pension fund at 55

[Ted27]

I have a good civil service pension so am well provided for

I also have a small stakeholder pension which is worthless as a pension but which will cover a nice new roof and some other house repairs.
Withdrawing the fund won't take me into the next tax bracket.

However I have read that it may limit the pension contributions my employer pays into my current pension.

As the sum is less than £30k I don't appear to be able to get financial advice to clarify this question.
any ideas ?

Is the Civil Service pension from a previous job, and the stakeholder pension from your current one?

the stakeholder is from an old job and is the one I'm looking to withdraw.

I'm currently paying into civil service pension

pensionwise should be able to help - they are free and don't want to sell you anything.

been to pensionwise, the pot needs to be at least £30k before they advise.

My guess is that the pot is so small it won't impact on anything but I dont want to get caught out

I am not a pensions advisor but it sounds like they're talking about triggering the money purchase annual allowance.

This reduces the available annual allowance (the amount you can save in pensions each year) to £4,000 (including employer contributions).

But as I understand it the £4000 only applies to further savings in a money purchase scheme, not defined benefits, so if your civil service pension is defined benefit, you should be OK.

Don't rely on this though - get someone to double check as tax and penalties can be significant if you get it wrong.

Have you tried the Pension Advisory Service?

Also, I think if the pot is less than 10k, it doesn't trigger the money purchase annual allowance.

www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/money-purchase-annual-allowance