Withdrawing Money From My People's Pension

JED310783

Hi

I am 40 years old and have been working in the NHS in Northern Ireland since January 2020. Prior to this (Feb 2014-Nov 2019) I worked for a privately owned company and was included in the People's Pension whilst working there. 

I have not saved in this pension since November 2019 and my current Total Pension Value is £2,500. My Projected Funds will be £3,731.19

I am wondering if I am able to withdraw my money from this pension now and - if so - would this be tax-free? Also, are there any advantages for me in keeping this particular pension pot open? Any advice would be welcome. Thanks in advance. 

xylophone

I am wondering if I am able to withdraw my money from this pension now 

You say that you are aged 40.

https://thepeoplespension.co.uk/minimum-pension-age-change

The normal minimum pension age is 55 but it’s rising to 57 in 2028.

Find out if this affects you…

Brie

So basically no you can't withdraw it.  You could likely transfer it to your NHS pension if you want to have everything in one place though this may restrict how you use it when you do want to retire.  That's the only reason I can think of leaving it where it is - so that you have the option of doing one thing with it and another with the NHS pension.  

Albermarle

I am wondering if I am able to withdraw my money from this pension now 

No, you are not old enough.

Also, are there any advantages for me in keeping this particular pension pot open

You could potentially add to it in future, the fact that you are not with that employer anymore is usually not an issue. 

One advantage of working for the NHS is that the pension provision is very good as it is a scheme that guarantees you a pension income based on your salary and years of service, which is mainly funded by the taxpayer.

However having a separate smaller pot can give you a bit more flexibility later, if you wanted to retire early for example.

vman

I'm not an IFA, I'm not giving financial advice(!) but IMO you are often best moving all your little pots into a SIPP and just sticking it on a very low cost global index tracker and forgetting about it. You need to do a little due diligence to make sure you arent losing any associated benefits you may care about.

I had a little 4K pension pot with Aviva that predict will be worth about £3,700 in 20 years time! (yup, less than today!!) it was just being chipped away in fees, I moved into into my SIPP and stuck it on a low fee EFT. I'll forget about it until I'm 55 then I'll take my 25% of it and the other pots I put in there.

xylophone

You could likely transfer it to your NHS pension

The OP mentions working for the NHS since 2020. Presumably member of 2015 Scheme.

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/member-hub/transferring-scheme

You must apply to transfer benefits into the Scheme:

• within 12 months of becoming eligible to join the Scheme for the first time