£52,000 Pension pot, I want to take all out and pay as little tax on it as possible

Vitor

If your pot isn’t huge and your priority is to spend it while you can, there’s nothing wrong with your approach.  To answer your question directly: you don’t need to contact HMRC to access your pension. Your pension provider is the one to speak to.

If you want to mimise tax, deduct your HM Forces pension from the £12,570.personal allowance and that the amount you can drawdown each year without paying income tax.