Before you’re able to take your money as a small pot lump sum, under HMRC’s rules, all contributions into your pension pot must have stopped.

You’ll need to let your employer know you’d like to leave the pension scheme before you start the request to take your pension. We won’t be able to begin the process until contributions have stopped and your employer has confirmed you’ve left the pension scheme and no contributions are due.

Check back after the 22nd of the month

Your contributions are made through your employer’s payroll. The contributions made in the month you leave the scheme should be paid to us by the 22nd of the following month.

So, if you’ve recently left employment, or stopped paying into your pension, we may still be waiting for outstanding, or pending, contributions from your employer. Once they’ve cleared, you should be able to take your small pot lump sum.

You’ll need to wait until after the 22nd of the month after you left, and then log into your Online Account to take your money as a small pot. If the contributions are still pending, you’ll see a message when you try to take your money online.