Maximising tax free income

Aiki

I agree with you, the personal allowance is increased, as opposed to working out the tax and applying a tax credit. Generally in both cases it is a saving of upto £250 in income tax at the 20% rate, but it could be different due to what constitutes income and the effects of tax rates on savings etc..
Text from HMRC website.



How it works
Marriage Allowance lets you transfer £1,250 of your Personal Allowance to your husband, wife or civil partner - if they earn more than you.
This reduces their tax by up to £250 in the tax year (6 April to 5 April the next year).

Dazed_and_confused

the personal allowance is increased, as opposed to working out the tax and applying a tax credit

That is wrong. The recipient of Marriage Allowance is not entitled to a larger Personal Allowance.

LITRG has an explanation here.

https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/tax-basics/what-tax-allowances-am-i-entitled

westv

All just semantics really. The recipient gains £250 full stop.

Dazed_and_confused

It is to most people but for the op it changes the amount which can be taken from the pension, as extra taxable income can be taken with no tax to pay (because of the Scottish 19% tax rate) that means the associated TFLS is also larger when using UFPLS.