Withdrawing pension money

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I opted out of serps years ago and now have a pension pot of £21k with Abbey.
I can take £5k out now tax free as I am over 55 but if I do that Abbey say I can't leave the rest of the money with them. I desperately need the £5k as my car has given up and I need a new one and have no savings.
Does anyone know where I can transfer the money to, to still be able to take out the £5k. I would take all of it if I could but this will take me over the earnings threshold for my daughter receiving a grant for university. I am a single parent and have no other means of getting the money, although I applied for a loan as I have good credit history but was refused probably because of my earnings. Thank you

And you have no other way of financing a replacement car? Or joining a car pool? Or no car, but the occasional trip with bus/taxi? I have no other information that what you wrote here, but it seems perhaps unwise to prematurely use your retirement savings in order to buy a car, which might leave you with an even smaller pension later on.

Just go for a lease car short term and leave the pension where it is for now

I am no financial advisor but what I did was transfer all the money out of one place, put it in Prudential, took the 25% tax free and then the rest stays where it is.

I have a flexi draw down account but it does have tax implications.

Prudential is fairly low risk, but that suits me! Hope that helps a bit.

They say tax free but you are taxed on your overall annual earning which your 25% will be included. Check the link to see how much you could pay

www.pensionwise.gov.uk/en/take-cash-in-chunks

Your Abbey product doesn't allow you to take the tax free cash but leave the rest invested. You need a pension drawdown account for the residual. Many of the big life companies will have a suitable product - look at Royal London, Aegon, Old Mutual, Prudential for example. All have appropriate retirement accounts that will meet your needs.

Any further monies withdrawn after having taken the full 25% tax free cash will attract income tax at your marginal rate, but only as and when you draw them. The 25% tax free cash is not included in your earnings for this year's tax assessment, it is tax free. But could potentially affect other means tested benefits as you are already aware.

Thank you for all the helpful information, it has given me food for thought :)