Help needed

There are two main cases to consider.

1. A defined benefit pension, like final salary or average salary, the sort often used in the public sector. In these, the employer can take back their contributions if you leave within two years, returning just what you paid in after tax is deducted. After that you can keep the money in the pension pot and can take an income at whatever age the scheme rules allow it. This is probably not hte type you are writing about.

2. A defined contribution or money purchase pension, one where you have the option to choose the investments from a range, even if you haven't chosen to do that. if there's a list of funds you could pick from, this is what you probably have. It's also the type most often used in hte private sector. typically you'd pay in a percentage of your salary and your employer would match that, up to a certain percentage. You probably have this type.

For a defined contribution pension you can take a 25% tax free lump sum and income using Income Drawdown or by buying an annuity. Or you could use Income Drawdown and not take any income. If you were to do this, you could take the income and use the income to top up your income so you can continue to pay into the pension and get the extra matching money from your employer. it's potentially a good way to solve your money problem while not losing out on the tax relief or company match. You don't normally need to stop being in the pension to do this.

After taking the 25% tax free lump sum, in your case - with apparently limited knowledge of investments - it would probably be best for you to buy an annuity to provide an ongoing income. We don't know enough about your eventual retirement income situation or other savings, investments and property or other high value things you own to give an opinion on what's actually best.

No chance of the employer taking the money back after that long. It's just for short term employees, so tiny pension pots don't have to be tracked for a long time at costs that just wouldn't make sense.

Your best bet now if this interests you is to either find an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) - all three letters/words - from personal recommendation or via unbiased.co.uk. They can check values, check for special things like guaranteed annuity rates, which would be higher than current rates, as well as checking for the chance that your health might get you a higher income.