Pensions Advice Allowance

cooky44

hi
The first i found out about this was last week - since then I cannot get a direct answer from - HMRC, Pension wise or money advice service - Its states on the https://www.gov.uk/government/news/savers-to-be-able-to-access-1500-tax-free-for-pension-advice
- This was on Feb 2017 that "will be available at any age, allowing people of all ages to engage with retirement planning" but my pension provider states in a letter "is stating under 55"
I have asked all 3 of the relevant bodies where there is a full and concise explanatory section on the rules governing this - but nobody seems to know .:(
Does anyone have a link to a government webpage that describes this so that i can read and see if I qualify ? My pension provider is participating in this but the people I have spoke to on this do not seem to be aware that it is available.
TIA
Cooky

xylophone

https://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/issues/may-online-2017/what-does-the-delay-to-the-money-purchase-annual-allowance-mean-for-employers/

http://www.pensionsage.com/pa/MPAA-and-advice-allowance-confirmed-in-Finance-Bill.php

dunstonh

What exactly is the issue? Most pensions allow the advice charge to be taken from them and have done for almost a decade. Its mainly old ones (that are usually obsolete and worth changing) or workplace schemes that do not.

It is available at any age and for IFAs to use. (but not most FAs).

Paul_Herring

cooky44 wrote: »

but my pension provider states in a letter "is stating under 55"

...

that i can read and see if I qualify ?

Are you under 55?

Are you reading that letter as it indicating you can't use it until you're after 55?

cooky44

this is the exact wording from the letter "The 2016 budget included an announcement that the government would legislate to allow savers to withdraw up to £500 tax free from their pension once per tax year, up to three times from their pension, before age 55, to pay for holistic pensions advice. This is not a regulatory requirement."

cooky44

please see the excerpt from the letter below

sandsy

Apart from qualifying age-wise, you need to have a pension with a provider that has the systems to facilitate the payment to your adviser. If you have an existing pension which was established much before the end of 2012, that’s unlikely to be the case. Providers are not required to facilitate these payments.

Bear in mind that this uses your own money, sitting in your pension pot, to fund the advice. It’s not that different to seeing an advisor anyway and doing the same thing. The only difference is that the advice can also cover advice on other pension pots but the advice charge comes out of one pot. Normally, that isn’t permitted under tax rules.

However, the chances of you finding holistic pensions advice for £500 are quite remote. You’ll more than likely end up having to pay more. Have you found an advice firm who will do it?

cooky44

Standard Life actually do this and I have a pension that it can be taken from. I have found an adviser that will do this and I will pay the rest myself. They are just stating that you have to be under 55.