Making your decision

Need help and guidance?

We can’t provide guidance or advice about how to take your pension savings, but a specialist can. Get help with finding the right help and visit our Guidance and advice page.

If you’re feeling ready to make your decision on how you want to take your pension savings now, you’re in the right place. 

Remember, there’s a lot to think about to make sure your decision is the right one for you and your plans for the future.

If you haven’t taken guidance or advice and you’re still feeling unsure about making a decision, you still have time to speak to an adviser or get some additional help with making your choice. We are unable to provide you with guidance or advice on your decision.

Once you’re feeling ready and you know what you want to do next, you can come back to this page and start the process.

We have a Governance Advisory Arrangement (GAA) in place to act in the interests of pathway investors; the GAA operates independently of Scottish Widows. You can read more about the GAA.

If you are feeling ready to make a decision on how to take your pension savings now, make sure you’ve got the following things to hand first:

  1. Your current fund value

    You can find this in one of two ways:

    • by logging into your online account, or
    • by looking at your last benefit statement 

  2. A list of your investments

    If you choose to take some (rather than all) of your pension savings, you’ll need to let us know how you’d like to fund that decision. This means you’ll need to know where your pension savings are invested and be ready to tell us the amount you’d like to take (in £’s) from each of your investments.

  3. The amount of the Lump Sum Allowance and Lump Sum and Death Benefit Allowance that you have used so far.

    If this isn't the first time you've taken some of your pension savings (from any of your pensions, excluding the state pension) you'll need to know the amount of the Lump Sum Allowance and Lump Sum and Death Benefit Allowance you have used so far. If you took your pension benefits after 5 April 2024 your pension provider will have provided you with a certificate with this information on it. If you took your pension savings before 6 April 2024 then the certificate will show the percentage of Lifetime Allowance that was used. We can use this to calculate the Lump Sum Allowances. In some circumstances it may be beneficial for you to apply for a Transitional Tax-Free Amount Certificate. If you think this might apply to you then you need to apply before you crystallise any further pension benefits.

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Take your pension savings