Approaching retirement

The best place to get information about your options for your scheme is on your employer pension scheme website. If you don't know where that is, check with your employer. There will usually be a link on your employer’s intranet site.

Learn about your options including a guaranteed income, flexible income, lump sums and cash.

You can also download our guide to taking money from your pension PDF: 339KB. 

You can request a retirement quote from our Claims team by ringing them on 0345 070 8686.

Lines are open between the hours of 8:30am and 7pm Monday to Friday. Call charges will vary. We may record and monitor calls.

You can contribute up to 100% of your relevant earnings or £3,600 gross, if greater, into your pension plan and still get tax relief.

If your contributions go over the annual allowance including employer contributions (currently £60,000 in the tax year 2024/2025) you will incur a tax charge up to the highest rate you pay.

For those with earnings over £200,000 a year, and £260,000 a year when total pension contributions are included, the annual allowance may reduce below £60,000 but not less than £10,000. Please note it may be possible to carry forward unused annual allowances from up to three previous tax years.

If you have started drawing a flexible income from your pension pot, your annual allowance will reduce to £10,000 a year (this is called the Money Purchase Annual Allowance (MPAA)) and you can't carry forward any unused allowances. If you want to carry on building up your pension pot this may influence when you start taking income. Taking your tax-free cash lump sum without any other income doesn't affect your annual allowance.

Although your pension with Legal & General may accept transfers, we would always recommend you speak to a financial adviser before transferring any other pensions you have to us.

Your other pension providers may charge you if you transfer out of their plan. There may be other benefits or guarantees attached to your pension that you might forfeit if you decide to transfer it. If you are a member of a defined benefit scheme with a transfer value of more than £30,000, you’ll need to take advice from an adviser authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority before you can transfer it.

Legal & General offer a Retirement Advice Service. Our advisers are experts in retirement regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority , so you can trust them to provide impartial advice and a personal recommendation that’s right for you.

If you decide not to speak to a financial adviser, you can contact our Employee Support Team on 0345 070 8686 to discuss transfer options that may be open to you. 

Lines are open between the hours of 8:30am and 7pm Monday to Friday.

Call charges will vary. We may record and monitor calls.

If your pension contributions come straight from your salary then you need to tell your payroll department about any changes you wish to make to them. Your employer may also restrict the number of times you can do this in a year.

If you pay by your own direct debit simply call us or send us a letter or email, quote your plan number and tell us what you'd like to change your payments to. You can increase or decrease your regular contributions, but you may have to meet a minimum amount.

If your scheme allows, you can make changes to your investments by logging in to Manage Your Account. Here you will be able to see all the funds available to you and make changes. You will also find a personalised pension video statement. It's based on your current pension pot, its projected performance, and how much retirement income it could provide.

Your Guide to Investing outlines some important things to think about before making changes to your investments.

If you do not wish to use our online service to change your investments you can complete our Changing Your Investments form or call us on 0345 070 8686. We're open 8.30am - 7pm, Monday to Friday. Calls may be recorded and monitored. 

Please note - you can't combine a lifestyle profile with any other fund for any one benefit type, e.g. regular contributions, or a single contribution or transfer value. If you're already invested in a lifestyle profile and want to change your investment, you'll have to switch your existing pot and redirect any future payments for that benefit type. Likewise, if you'd like to start investing in a lifestyle profile, you’ll have to switch your existing pot and redirect future payments into the lifestyle profile for that benefit type.

Learn about lifestyle profiles

The value of your pension pot may fall as well as rise, and is not guaranteed. You should choose your funds carefully and review them regularly, particularly if you are close to retirement.

If you have been automatically enrolled, you can opt out within one month and you’ll get your money back and be treated as if you never joined the plan. Your enrolment communications will explain how to do this. If you don’t opt out within one month of being automatically enrolled you can stop contributing at any time. If you do this, both your contributions and any made by your employer up to that point will remain invested in your pension pot until you take your benefits, or you can transfer them to another pension scheme.

If you have not been automatically enrolled, after you have joined the plan, we will send you a letter containing details of what you will need to do if you decide to cancel and ask for any money back that you have paid. The letter includes a form, called a ‘cancellation notice’. If you decide to cancel, you will need to complete this notice and post it back to us at the address shown on the notice within 30 days of receiving it.

After this period HMRC rules state that your money must remain invested in a pension scheme until you take benefits. For the vast majority of people this will mean that you won’t be able to take benefits until you have reached age 55 rising to age 57 from April 2028.