Protect your pension lifetime allowance
How to apply for and check protections from the reductions in lifetime allowance.
The lifetime allowance was abolished with effect from 6 April 2024. Read the previous rates of standard lifetime allowance.
However, you may be able to protect your pension savings from the 6 April 2016 reduction of the standard lifetime allowance when it was reduced to £1 million. From 6 April 2024 these protections will apply to an individual’s lump sum allowance and lump sum and death benefit allowance. There are 2 protections you can apply for.
| Protection | What it does | Can I keep building up my pensions? |
|---|---|---|
| Individual protection 2016 | Protects your lifetime allowance to the lower of: • the value of your pension savings at 5 April 2016 • £1.25 million |
Yes. But your allowance will be based on the value of your pension savings at 5 April 2016. |
| Fixed protection 2016 | Fixes your lifetime allowance at £1.25 million. | If HMRC received your application on or after 15 March 2023, you cannot keep building up your pensions from 6 April 2016, except in limited circumstances. If HMRC received your successful application before 15 March 2023 and you still validly hold this protection, you can continue to build up your pensions without impacting the validity of your Fixed Protection 2016 from 6 April 2023. The rules on how you can lose your protection still apply from 6 April 2016 to 5 April 2023. |
Deadline to apply for fixed protection 2016 and individual protection 2016
The application deadline for both Fixed Protection 2016 and Individual Protection 2016 is 5 April 2025. After this date, you will not be able to apply for either of these protections.
Check your existing protected allowances
You need to sign in to check your existing protection. If you do not already have sign in details, you’ll be able to create them.
Apply for protection after the public service pensions remedy (also known as McCloud)
If you were a member of a public service pension scheme between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022, following the public service pensions remedy you may be eligible to apply for either:
- fixed protection 2016
- individual protection 2016
If you think you’re eligible, write to HMRC to apply at:
Pension Schemes Services
HM Revenue and Customs
BX9 1GH
You must include:
- the type of protection you’re applying for
- that you’re applying as a result of the public service pensions remedy
- your National Insurance number
- your contact details
Once we have received your letter, we will write to you to let you know the next steps, or to ask for any additional information we need to process your application.
Apply for individual protection 2016
You can apply if your pension savings were worth more than £1 million at 5 April 2016.
You can still apply if you already have:
- enhanced protection
- fixed protection
- fixed protection 2014
- fixed protection 2016
Individual protection 2016 will stay dormant until you lose or give up your previous protection. Tell HMRC in writing if this happens.
You cannot apply if you’ve either:
- primary protection
- individual protection 2014
Before you start
You need to sign in to apply for individual protection. If you do not already have sign in details, you’ll be able to create them.
You’ll also need to know:
- what your pension savings were worth on 5 April 2016
- a breakdown of the amount
If you do not know this information, you can ask your pension scheme administrator. If you have more than one scheme, add the amounts from each scheme together.
You have until 5 April 2025 to apply for individual protection 2016.
Check if there are any current service problems, or times when it will not be available.
Apply for fixed protection 2016
You can apply if:
- you or your employer have not added to your pension savings since 5 April 2016
- you opted out of any workplace schemes by 5 April 2016
You can still apply for fixed protection 2016 if you already have individual protection 2014. Fixed protection 2016 will be dormant until you lose your previous protection. You should tell HMRC in writing when you have lost lifetime allowance protection.
You cannot apply if you have:
- enhanced protection
- primary protection
- fixed protection
- fixed protection 2014
Before you start
You need to sign in to apply for fixed protection. If you do not already have sign in details, you’ll be able to create them.
You have until 5 April 2025 to apply for fixed protection 2016.
Check if there are any current service problems, or times when it will not be available.
After you’ve applied
Taking money from your pension scheme
Once you’ve applied for protected allowances through the online service you’ll receive 2 reference numbers that you’ll need to keep. These are your:
- protection notification number
- scheme administrator reference
You’ll need to give these reference numbers to your scheme administrator when you decide to take money from your pension schemes, to show that you have a protected allowances.
Your protection notification number will be shown as:
- FP16 followed by 10 digits and 1 letter for fixed protection 2016, for example FP161234567890A
- IP16 followed by 10 digits and 1 letter for individual protection 2016, for example IP161234567890B
Your scheme administrator reference will be shown as PSA followed by 8 digits and 1 letter.
In most cases, you can find these reference numbers online, even if you did not apply for protected allowances online.
Report a change to your pension
Changes in your pension can affect if you can keep your individual protection for 2014 and 2016. You should tell HMRC in writing if:
- the amount of your pension breakdown changes
- you need to add or change a pension debit because you receive a discharge notice as a result of a pension sharing order — you must tell us within 60 days of the pension debit
If you’ve protected your pension savings online, you’ll be able to amend your protections yourself. For example, if you made mistakes with the values when you applied, or if you have pension debits which affect the amount you’re protected by.
You need to sign in to amend your protections and select the ‘pensions’ option. You’ll need the sign in details you used when you applied.
If you did not protect your pension savings online, you should tell HMRC in writing about these changes. HMRC will write to you to let you know how it affects your protection.
If you’ve lost protection
There are certain conditions that you’ll need to meet in order to rely on your protection if you hold:
- enhanced protection
- fixed protection
- fixed protection 2014
- fixed protection 2016
If you do not meet these conditions, you may lose your protection and will need to tell HMRC in writing.
Updates to this page
Published 6 April 2016Last updated 6 April 2024 + show all updates
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Amended information on the deadlines for applying for fixed protection 2016 and individual protection 2016.
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Information about applying for fixed protection 2016 or individual protection 2016 after the public service pensions remedy has been added.
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Information about pensions lifetime allowance protection and what to do if you lose your protection has been updated.
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The section 'If you’ve lost protection' has been added.
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A link has been added to sections 'Apply for individual protection 2016' and 'After you’ve applied' to give guidance on what to do if you lose your lifetime allowance protection. The section 'If you've lost protection' has been removed.
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The lifetime allowance stays at £1,073,100 for 2021 to 2022.
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The lifetime allowance has increased from £1,055,000 to £1,073,100 from 6 April 2020.
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The current standard lifetime allowance has been change from £1,030,000 to £1,055,000.
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Rates, allowances and duties have been updated for the tax year 2018 to 2019.
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This guidance has been updated with information about lifetime allowance protection reference numbers.
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References to the individual protection 2014 (IP2014) have been removed as the deadline for applying for this protection closed on 5 April 2017.
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The section on how and when to report a change has been amended.
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This guidance has been updated to reflect the new online service for members to protect their lifetime allowance from the 2014 and 2016 reduction.
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First published.