What is the pension lifetime allowance?

The pension lifetime allowance previously capped the total amount that pension savers could build up in their retirement pots tax-efficiently.

But it was abolished earlier this year by the Conservative government.

Former chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced the surprise move in the 2023 Spring Budget, and documents accompanying the Autumn Statement later in the year confirmed the axing of the allowance.

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It brought cheers from savers with large pension pots and high-paid workers with generous final salary schemes.

The lifetime allowance has long been controversial, essentially penalising workers that diligently save money for retirement and/or make good investment decisions.

But while the Tories scrapped it, Labour has previously suggested it would reintroduce the lifetime allowance limits if it won the general election.

We look at whether the new government could bring the lifetime allowance back, and also explain how exactly the allowance works.

What is the pension lifetime allowance?

The pension lifetime allowance (LTA) was the total amount an individual could save into pensions over the course of their lifetime – before a tax penalty was due. The allowance applied to all personal, private or workplace pensions but not your state pension.

The limit also applied if the reason you exceeded the allowance was that your pension investments had performed well.

How much was the lifetime allowance?

The pension lifetime allowance was £1,073,100 for the 2022/23 tax year. This was the total amount you could save across your personal and workplace pensions without incurring a tax penalty.

The government previously announced that the lifetime allowance would be frozen at this level until at least April 2026.

However, in a bid to tempt older savers back to work, the former chancellor said in his Spring 2023 Budget that the allowance would be abolished.

This means savers can build up as much as they want in their pension pots and enjoy extra tax relief. They don't need to worry anymore that good investment growth, extra pension contributions or working longer or doing overtime could potentially cause them to exceed the lifetime allowance and be slapped with a tax fine of up to 55%.

So, it's been abolished?

The government published draft regulations to abolish the lifetime allowance in the Autumn Statement in November last year, and it was scrapped in April 2024.

The Treasury predicted that changes to the lifetime allowance and the annual allowance on pension contributions would "increase employment by around 15,000 in 2027 to 2028, by removing some financial disincentives to continuing in employment for those with large pension pots".

In September, HMRC said it had "concluded a short informal consultation on the draft regulations to correct the legislation following the abolition of the lifetime allowance".

In place of the lifetime allowance are now three new pension allowances that affect tax-free cash and death benefits. For example, the new lump sum allowance caps the maximum 25% tax-free lump sum that can be taken from pension pots at £268,275.

Could Labour reintroduce the lifetime allowance?

Shortly after Hunt announced that the lifetime allowance would be scrapped, Labour was quick to say that it would reintroduce it if it won the election.

However, there was no mention of the allowance in the Labour manifesto, nor was there any announcement about it in the Autumn Budget.

Indeed, the fact that HMRC has been continuing to work on the abolition of the lifetime allowance could mean it's now unlikely that it would make a comeback.

Mike Ambery, retirement savings director at Standard Life, comments: "The lifetime allowance has been a hot potato over the last year or so. A reinstatement was seemingly firmly in the sights of pre-election Labour before an apparent change of heart.

"Now the new government is in place it seems more likely, but not certain, that the abolition of the LTA is here to stay after HMRC confirmed work to complete the abolition and tidy up the legislation is ongoing."

Note that the rest of this article refers to how the lifetime allowance worked prior to April 2023, before it was axed.

How much was the tax penalty?

If you fully withdraw your pension as a lump sum, 55% tax is due on the excess over the lifetime allowance and is deducted immediately when it is paid out. If you take your retirement pot as pension income, 25% is due immediately, then any future pension withdrawals are taxed as income.

Usually, your pension trustees or pension scheme administrator will deduct the tax charge from the pension and pay it directly to HMRC.

Who did the lifetime allowance affect and how was it triggered?

Cuts to the lifetime allowance mean more and more people have been affected by it – not just the very wealthy – with NHS GPs being one, recent, high-profile example.

The allowance had previously gone up with inflation each year, reaching £1.8m in 2010/2011, but had then been frozen or cut by successive chancellors.

According to government figures, 11,660 retirement savers had to pay a tax charge in the 2021/22 tax year because they had put too much into their pension pots and breached the lifetime allowance.

Your progress towards the lifetime allowance is assessed:

1. When you start to take an income from your pension pot, and
2. When you hit age 75

Lifetime allowance calculations apply differently to defined contribution and defined benefit pensions. Many people will have both types so it is important to include them both when you are assessing whether you might be impacted by the lifetime allowance.

Your pension might be well below the current lifetime allowance now, but investment growth over the long term means you could end up with a lifetime allowance issue in the future.

Helen Morrissey, head of retirement analysis at the investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown, says someone “earning £50,000 a year, contributing 8% with investment returns of 5% per year, aged 40 with defined contribution pensions worth £400,000 could breach the lifetime allowance by the time they hit 65”.

How to work out if the lifetime allowance applies to you

The lifetime allowance calculation works differently for defined contribution pensions and defined benefit pensions.

Defined contribution pensions

For personal pensions, stakeholder pensions or self-invested personal pensions (Sipps), the lifetime allowance is assessed according to the value of your pensions. If due, a tax charge would only happen if you moved the funds into drawdown, purchased an annuity or died before age 75.

Defined benefit pensions

For defined benefit pensions, such as final salary and career average schemes, which don’t have a fund value, pension benefits are valued at 20 times the pension received, plus the value of any tax-free cash payable – when retirement benefits are taken.

Gary Smith, financial planning director at wealth manager Evelyn Partners, gives an example: “If a defined benefit scheme provides an annual pension of £40,000, plus a lump sum of £120,000, the value of these benefits would be £920,000 (£40,000 x 20) + £120,000”.

Beware the second LTA check

There is a second LTA check at age 75 for those in drawdown that catches out many people. It measures the growth in the value of the pension since it entered drawdown and the growth is measured against the client’s remaining LTA.

What happens if your pension exceeds the LTA?

In the event you exceed the lifetime allowance, tax charges will apply to the amount you’re over. How you take the excess will dictate the rate of tax payable.

Evelyn Partners gives the following example:

Stage 1 – tax-free cash

• Your tax-free cash lump sum can’t exceed 25% of the lifetime allowance
• So, if someone has a £1.2m Sipp the maximum tax-free cash would be £268,275 (25% of the current allowance of £1,073,100) and not £300,000 (25% of £1.2m)
• But it is typically the income that is subject to the lifetime allowance tax charge
• If the excess is taken as a lump sum the excess would be taxed at 55%. However, where the excess is paid as an income the excess is taxed at 25%

Stage 2 – taking your pension

• Again using an individual with a Sipp worth £1.2m, if they moved the full value into drawdown, a tax-free lump sum of £268,275 would be paid, using up 25% of their lifetime allowance, with the remaining £931,725 going into the drawdown fund.
• They would only retain a lifetime allowance of £804,825 (75% of £1,073,100) so, if income is taken, £126,900 would be taxed at 25% (£31,725).

Inheriting a pension

• If the same individual had died, prior to taking their retirement benefits and before their 75th birthday, and the beneficiary opted to take the value as a lump sum, the amount up to the lifetime allowance would be paid tax-free, with the excess of £126,900 subject to a 55% tax charge of £69,795.
• The beneficiary would receive an overall lump sum of £1,130,205 or 94.18% of the Sipp value.

What can I do to avoid the LTA?

To avoid going over the lifetime allowance you could:

• Stop saving into a pension and use an alternative savings method, such as an ISA
• Draw your pension, before it exceeds the LTA, and enjoy the income
• Apply for an LTA protection, if available

What are LTA protections?

Protections – Fixed Protection (FP2016) or Individual Protection (IP2016) – can help you mitigate the effects of lifetime allowance charges.

Fixed protection will fix your LTA at £1.25m but only if no pension benefits are accrued after 5 April 2016 – this includes personal and employer contributions and building up further benefits in a final salary scheme. You can only apply if you do not have protection from a previous year, other than Individual Protection 2014.

Individual protection fixes your allowance at the value of your pensions as of 5 April 2016, up to a maximum of £1.25 million. You can continue to make and receive contributions, but you will only qualify if your pensions were worth more than £1 million in total as of 5 April 2016 and you do not hold any other protections.

Helen Morrissey at Hargreaves Lansdown advises: “The protection schemes are very complicated so it is important to speak to HMRC to make sure you don’t fall foul of the rules.”