L&G App
Download the L&G app to view your valuation, fund details, transactions, documents and request ad hoc withdrawals.
Your Pension Access Scheme member guide
Everything you need to know
Once you’re ready to access your pension pot from your existing pension plan you can choose to transfer some, or all of it into the Mastertrust Pension Access Scheme (MTPAS), subject to the rules of the transferring scheme.
Once transferred you must take a lump sum, an income or a combination of the two.
You’ll be unable to pay into the plan, but you may be able to make further transfers.
Read through this guide to help you understand more.
How the Plan works
- Your initial transfer is from one other pension plan
- You can choose where to invest your pension pot change your investment choices at any time. Make sure you review your choices regularly
- You can choose to draw an income which can be paid on a regular or ad hoc basis
Joining the plan
- You can join the Plan if you’re at the Normal minimum pension age or over (currently this is age 55 rising to age 57 by 2028) and wish to draw pension benefits right away.
- We recommend you read through this member guide and take a look around the site to understand your options.
- Once you’re ready to join the plan, you’ll need to complete and submit the online quote request form.
Next steps
- Once you’ve asked for a quote. We’ll then send you an illustration, either by post or e-mail, to help you decide if this is the right option for you.
- If you decide you’d like to go ahead with the transfer, you can apply to join the Plan by completing the application form that comes with your illustration.
- If you have any questions, you can get in touch
What else should you read?
The following guides are available from this Plan website:
Investing your pension pot
You can find more information about the choices available to you in your Investment guide.
The investment options are reviewed regularly by the Mastertrust Trustees and may be subject to change. The Trustees regularly review all the fund options available to you.
The Mastertrust Trustees will write to you if they change any of the funds you’re invested in. They’ll normally give you advance notice so you can consider how the change affects you.
Changing where your pension pot is invested
You can change where your pension pot is invested at any time:
- Online: log in to account. You can see the different funds and change the way your pension pot is invested.
- By phone: you can call L&G direct on 0345 070 8686. Call charges will vary and calls may be recorded and monitored.
Manage your account online
Log into your online account to view your valuation, fund details, transactions, documents and request ad hoc withdrawals.
Plan charges
To keep your plan running smoothly and manage the funds you’re invested in, we apply two charges:
Annual management charge (AMC)
This covers the cost of running your Plan. It’s calculated daily and deducted once a month by selling units from your pension pot.
Fund management charge (FMC)
This covers the cost of managing the fund or funds you’re invested in. This charge is included in the unit price. Unit prices are calculated daily and the charge is reflected in the value of your pension savings.
Using the Retirement Income Multi Asset Fund as an example, if your pension pot is worth £10,000 throughout the year, you’ll pay the charges shown in the table:
| AMC | 0.06% | £6 |
| FMC | 0.31% | £31 |
| Total charge for the year | 0.37% | £37 |
Accessing your pot
You can access your pension pot in a number of ways. Our Mastertrust Scheme gives you the flexibility of taking an income and/or lump sum directly from your pension pot.
To access these options, you’ll need to transfer some or all of your pension pot from your existing scheme into this Plan.
Lump Sum allowance
Important - Whichever option(s) you choose, the first 25% is usually tax-free and the remainder is taxed as income (subject to allowances).
When you take your benefits, the value of your pension pot will be tested against the lump sum allowance as set by the government.
This is the maximum amount of pension benefits you can build up without paying a tax charge. If your total pension benefits exceed the lump sum allowance, a tax charge will be payable from your pension pot before benefits are paid to you.
You can find out more about tax rates and allowances in the Tax Year Rates and Allowances Sheet
Keep track of your savings
Manage your account online
You can log into your online account or download the L&G app to view your valuation, fund details, transactions, documents and request ad hoc withdrawals.
In the app you can also:
- View regular income, withdrawals summary, service charges, and investments splits (including individual fund values and fund management charges) from the overview
- Nominate and change beneficiaries
- Access the drawdown and life expectancy calculators
With additional features such as:
- Phone or email the drawdown helpline from the app
- Connect your bank accounts and pensions from other providers with open finance
- Track spending budgets and savings goals against your bank accounts
Drawdown Statements
Each year we’ll create a statement for you. The statement will set out:
- the current value of your pension pot
- the fund(s) it is invested in
- a projection which shows the effect on your pension pot of taking income withdrawals including if and when your fund is likely to run out.
You can request a statement at any other time if you wish.
The amount of income you can take from your pension pot will depend on a number of factors, including:
- the amount you transferred in and the investment growth earned
- how much of your pension pot you choose to take as a lump sum, as well as, when and how quickly you take income.
- the charges deducted to manage your pension pot*
*You'll only see the AMC deductions on your annual statements. The FMC is included in the price of units in your chosen fund(s).
Transferring other pensions
- Before you decide to transfer any benefits from another pension plan you should consider taking financial advice. You can find an Independent Financial Adviser in your local area by visiting: Find a regulated financial adviser | MoneyHelper
- You can transfer other pension pots that aren't already being used for drawdown.
- If you’re transferring from a defined benefit scheme and the transfer amount exceeds £30,000 you will be required to obtain financial advice on the appropriateness of the transfer.
- The Mastertrust Trustees and Legal & General will only accept such transfers if the advice is a positive recommendation.
Getting help to decide
It’s important you shop around to find the best option for your personal circumstances and income goals. It’s a big decision so it’s worth comparing what each provider can offer as you don’t have to stay with Legal & General and might get better options elsewhere.
Pension Wise is a government service from MoneyHelper that offers free, impartial guidance about your defined contribution pension options. An appointment with Pension Wise will help you understand what your overall financial situation will be when you retire. You can book an appointment once you are aged 50 or over.
For useful links and addresses go to L&G - Useful links
Questions and complaints
If you have any questions or comments, please contact the Legal & General helpline as detailed below. If your queries are unresolved, or if there’s something you don’t agree with, there’s a formal dispute procedure you can follow. The helpline can give you all the details.
Open between the hours of 8.30am and 7pm Monday to Friday.
Call charges will vary and the calls may be monitored or recorded.
Important extra information
If you decide to take regular income from your pension pot, there is no minimum amount. You can stop, start or change the amount you take, in order to suit your own needs and tax position. Regular payments can be taken monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annually, and will be paid directly to your bank account on a day of your choice between the 1 and 28 of the month.
Income from the Plan is taxed in the same way as your earnings are taxed while you’re working, except you won’t have to pay National Insurance. If you wish to take a cash lump sum at retirement, you can take up to 25%* of your pension pot and this will currently be paid to you free of tax.
What about my annual allowance?
When you first access any of your defined contribution pension pots flexibly, your annual allowance, the amount you can pay into a pension each year and receive tax relief on, may reduce to £10,000 per year. This is called the money purchase annual allowance, and we will tell you if this happens when you start accessing your pot. You’ll need to tell all your other pension providers where you are still contributing about this within 91 days as well as any new pension providers you make contributions to going forward.
If you’re a member of a defined benefit scheme, your annual allowance for those benefits will not be affected. If you exceed the annual allowance you will pay tax on the total amount that is paid above it.
More tax information can be found in Accessing your pot.
The Mastertrust Trustees will usually pay the value of your pension pot to your financial dependants or other beneficiaries. You are encouraged to complete the “Nominate your beneficiary” form L&G - Document library
Although not bound by it the Mastertrust Trustees will always use this to guide their decision. It is therefore important that you keep your nomination form up to date as your circumstances change.
When you access your pension, you can usually take up to 25% of it as a tax-free lump sum. Your ‘Lump Sum Allowance’ is the maximum amount of money you can take as tax-free lump sums from all the pensions you have.
While you can still take out money over this allowance, you will need to pay income tax on it. The Lump Sum Allowance is £268,275. It will be higher if you have any protected tax-free lump sums, or a protected lifetime allowance.
If you die before age 75, the value of any remaining money in your pension pot can be taken by your beneficiary(ies) in most cases as a tax-free payment, either as a single cash lump sum or they can continue to access flexibly as you have been doing yourself.
If you die after age 75, the value of any remaining money in your pension pot can be taken by any nominated beneficiary(ies) in most cases as a single cash lump sum subject to a 45% tax charge. Alternatively, any nominated beneficiary may be able to take an income through flexi-access drawdown, subject to their own marginal rate of income tax.
Your ‘Lump Sum Death Benefit Allowance’ (LSDBA) is the total amount of tax-free money you can take across all the pensions you have as a:
- tax-free lump sum
- tax-free serious ill-health lump sum, paid out before you turn 75, or
- tax-free lump sum death benefit, paid out if you pass away before you turn 75.
The LSDBA is £1,073,100 . It will be higher if you have any protected tax-free lump sums, or a protected lifetime allowance. Income tax will need to be paid on any funds paid above the LSDBA, by whoever receives the payment
If any dependant(s) are under the age of 18 at the time of your death, the Trustees may pay into a trust fund for their benefit until they reach the age of 18.
This page is intended as a summary of the terms and conditions of the Scheme. If the information in the Scheme Rules and here ever conflict with each other, the Rules will be overriding. You can contact Legal & General for a copy of the Rules if you’d like to see them. The information on this page is based on the Trustees’ and Legal & General’s understanding of current legislation, and HMRC practice. These can change without notice, but the Trustees will let you know as soon as they can if a change is made that significantly impacts you.
The following documents are available on request:
- The Trustees’ Annual Report which contains general information about the Scheme
- The Trust Deed and Rules
- Statement of Investment Principles which describes the Trustees’ investment strategy
For details of who to contact, please get in touch
The FSCS is designed to pay customers compensation if they lose money because a firm is unable to pay them what they owe for any reason. In the event of a failure of the investments held in the L&G WorkSave Mastertrust, the Trustees may, on your behalf, be entitled to claim compensation. The maximum compensation available from the FSCS is 100%, without limit, of a valid claim for any loss incurred.
The Pensions Regulator regulates workplace pension schemes and can step in where it feels that a scheme is not being run properly or where it has evidence that members’ benefits are endangered. The plan’s administrators and professional advisers have a duty to report to The Pensions Regulator if they believe there have been any irregularities in the way you plan is being run.
The Pensions Regulator can be contacted at:
The Pensions Regulator
Napier House
Trafalgar Place
Brighton BN1 4DW
Tel: 0345 600 0707
The Plan is part of the L&G Mastertrust (the Scheme). The Mastertrust is a defined contribution (or money purchase) pension scheme. It is managed by a board of Trustees who are legally bound to look after your money and put your best interests first. The current Trustees are:
Legal & General Trustees Limited,
LawDeb Pension Trust Corporation PLC, and
Independent Governance Group
If you’d like more information on how the Mastertrust works you can visit the
Mastertrust website
The Trustees appoint Legal & General Assurance Society Limited to administer the Scheme on their behalf.
The scheme is tax-registered with HMRC and the Pension Scheme Tax Reference (PSTR) is 00773690RX.
The Scheme rules may change in future – you’ll be notified of any changes that may affect you.
The Trustees also have the power to wind up the Scheme which would mean you could no longer participate in it. These decisions aren’t taken lightly and should it ever happen, you will be notified well in advance with details of all your options.
Get in touch
If you need help, you can call or email us (please note call charges will vary, we may record and monitor calls)