Is it a hassle to transfer pensions?

Albermarle

Chomeur said:

Oh, OK, sounds like it's better just to draw down the money than take annuities. In which case I may as well just leave the money in each of the three pensions until I have a use for it. Which may be never. I have cash savings and spend very little. 

Whilst you are not taking an income from the pensions, having three separate ones is not a big issue, although you may be paying a bit extra charges.
However I would consider merging them before taking an income, as this simplifies things, especially with tax.
Alternatively just take income from one, and then when it gets depleted transfer one of the other ones to it.
If you take ad hoc income from different pensions, then you will probably find yourself waiting in the HMRC call centre queue rather a lot .

Chomeur

 you still get 20% tax relief even when you are paying 0% tax. 

Thanks, I hadn't appreciated that.

xylophone

Thanks, I hadn't appreciated that.

https://www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/tax-basics/do-i-have-join-pension-scheme/do-you-know-how-tax-relief-your-pension

Tax relief is only given on pension contributions if:

• You are under age 75,
• You are UK resident, and
• You make a gross contribution of up to the higher of (a) your UK relevant earnings or (b) £3,600 gross (which is £2,880 as a net contribution to your pension – that is, the amount you pay in).

The last point means that if your pension uses the ‘relief at source’ method of tax relief and you earn, say, £5,000 in the 2022/23 tax year, you can make a gross contribution of up to £5,000 into that pension. This equates to a net contribution of £4,000, because the pension scheme will claim tax relief of £1,000. If you earn less than £3,600, you are limited to tax relief on a gross contribution of £3,600 (£2,880 net). In either case, the fact that you do not pay any income tax does not prevent the pension scheme claiming the tax relief.

I actually have two pensions with Aviva, one was previously with Friends Provident, the other with Sun Life. All three pensions were set up around 25 years ago. Now I'm self-employed, and not contributing to any of them. 

Might it not be worth considering opening a personal pension ( this is a "relief at source" arrangement), contributing as appropriate and requesting your new provider to transfer in your old pensions?