To avoid taking the long "£2880 into pension when retired" thread into more sidetracks on specific providers...

Mum's SIPP was set up a couple of months ago so the £720 tax relief on her £2880 contribution has not yet been received but is due to be credited later this month. Not a problem as only looking to take out about £2500-2600 total this tax year via UFPLS and leave £1k in the account, putting more in next tax year up to the annual limit for non earners. She already has online access to it alongside her ISA and can see the cash in the account.

First step was to go to the HL page for 'taking lump sums' and fill the form to request an info pack "The pack will explain UFPLS in more detail and also include details of how to apply. Request your copy today by completing your details"
Then presumably the pack tells you how to do it.

Dad reckons he's received a couple of packs/forms in the post today after doing that: one seems to be for setting up a SIPP and opening an account, giving them ID documentation etc - presumably irrelevant as the SIPP is already established ; another explaining the process for Drawdown etc.

One form is headed "priority request: retirement options"; below the simple stuff like name, address etc on that form there's boxes for 'pension details for annuity and drawdown options : value / expected retirement date / how much tax free lump sum would you want' ; then it goes on to 'please post me: more details on annuities inc an annuity quote / more details on drawdowns inc a personal illustration / more details on lump sums (UFPLS pack)'.

Then there is a separate white form "What next: risk factors to consider when taking a lump sum (UFPLS) from a pension" - which is basically a questionnaire on whether you have had advice, do you understand this, that, and the other risk factors around taking lumpsums. At the bottom of the risk questionnaire it has "thank you now return the form in the prepaid envelope or call us on xxxx ;" and space for an email address in "send my application by email".

As I'm attempting to field his questions without the forms in front of me (because they came through post rather than electronically for easy sharing) -I am not sure if the first form might not be needed (we do just want a UFPLS application pack, which is why we filled out the online application for a lump sum information pack...) and the second form sounds like the key one to sign off on the risks so they will send the application form through. But perhaps the first form I described is needed to act as a covering letter for the UFPLS risk questionnaire to be sent to them and then they will fire out another form.

The idea is not to take money out via drawdown (as we are out of time this tax year for anything to go month by month) but just to grab (say) £2600 of the soon-to-be £3600 in the SIPP and take it out using the standard 25%/75% taxfree / taxable split.

I wasn't sure if this is just the first bit of a lengthy process to put in some details and get an illustration and then eventually be able to click some buttons online to extract cash, or whether the next form that follows will be the proper application to send off in the post again to extract cash, or whether there should already be another piece of paper in the pack at this stage to actually constitute a request for a UFPLS of £x to be sent to the registered bank account.

I had suggested they try to do this earlier in the year to avoid missing the cutoff to get a payout close to the 2016/17 deadline (having heard that drawdowns are paid on the xth of a month and need to be requested by the yth of the month), but we are where we are. My hope is that a one off UFPLS - as distinct from a regular ongoing drawdown - is something that can be done on an adhoc basis before 5 April if HL were to get the current batch of forms by early next week and then if necessary, the formal application the week after.

The timeline is compressed a bit as they are travelling away for a week from first thing monday. I wasn't sure if perhaps they can do the questionnaire over the phone, then get the proper application form over email, then get that sent in first thing Monday and have a better chance of getting the cash through to count as 2016/17 income.

Any other experiences or comments about whether I'm on the right track would be handy. I know how UFPLS works and all the tax consequences, it's just the process with this particular provider.

Thanks