Hypothetical idea that is probably ridiculous

Cus

Due to my age, I am a number of years away from being allowed to access my DC pensions.  I intend to take the full tax free amount when I can.
Having seen how rules can change quickly, and that often those rules declare that if you have begun a process prior to some announcement date which can often be the same day as a rule change (e.g. sipps opened prior to Nov 2021 that had ages 55 documented), is the following idea crazy, or perhaps worth a go?

On the unlikely assumption that a budget decision later this year states that the maximum tax free amount from a DC pension is to be reduced from approx £263k to a lower number, I would suspect that a caveat would be that if you have officially requested/in the process of a payment higher than the new lower amount, you can continue, but from that announcement date, if you are not in the process, then you are limited to the new lower number.
Could I officially request a full payment now to somehow ring fence the higher amount, even though I am not yet allowed to take it?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Cus said:

Due to my age, I am a number of years away from being allowed to access my DC pensions.  I intend to take the full tax free amount when I can.
Having seen how rules can change quickly, and that often those rules declare that if you have begun a process prior to some announcement date which can often be the same day as a rule change (e.g. sipps opened prior to Nov 2021 that had ages 55 documented), is the following idea crazy, or perhaps worth a go?

On the unlikely assumption that a budget decision later this year states that the maximum tax free amount from a DC pension is to be reduced from approx £263k to a lower number, I would suspect that a caveat would be that if you have officially requested/in the process of a payment higher than the new lower amount, you can continue, but from that announcement date, if you are not in the process, then you are limited to the new lower number.
Could I officially request a full payment now to somehow ring fence the higher amount, even though I am not yet allowed to take it?

Genius, wish I'd thought of that.  

But know you've let the cat out of the bag I suspect Rachel R will find a way to stop your cunning plan 😞

Cus

Yeah, thought it was silly.  But I wonder if someone who is say 10 days away from age 55 is today allowed to request payment for when they are 55?

Grumpy_chap

Cus said:

Due to my age, I am a number of years away from being allowed to access my DC pensions.  I intend to take the full tax free amount when I can.

Could I officially request a full payment now to somehow ring fence the higher amount, even though I am not yet allowed to take it?

You could request anything.  I suspect the request will be closed almost instantly by the fund administrators.

As you are a number of years away from having access, there is really very little you can do to change what will happen or what will not happen in this regard, so best to just ignore the issue.  Especially as you say that the assumption is unlikely.

squirrelpie

You might do better considering why you want to take the full tax free sum as soon as you can, which is usually a bad idea, and see if you can come up with a different plan to achieve your objective.

Albermarle

Cus said:

Yeah, thought it was silly.  But I wonder if someone who is say 10 days away from age 55 is today allowed to request payment for when they are 55?

If only 10 days away then this could be possible, as it takes around that sort of time to process the first tax free payment.
However months before, never mind years, would surely get blocked. 

Cus

squirrelpie said:

You might do better considering why you want to take the full tax free sum as soon as you can, which is usually a bad idea, and see if you can come up with a different plan to achieve your objective.

Thanks and a valid query, but I want to gift it to others.