FAQs for members

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Use the Turn2us Benefits Calculator or Policy in Practice’s Better Off Calculator to see if there’s anything you should be claiming. 

Only if you’re over 55. If you’re under 55 you can’t legally get hold of your pension savings unless you’re unable to work due to ill health or your life expectancy is less than 12 months. This is because pension savings are ‘ring-fenced’ to be used as retirement income.

The government is planning to increase the earliest age you can get at your pension savings to 57 on 6 April 2028. The idea is that it stays 10 years behind State Pension Age, which will be 67 by then.

No. The minimum rates for paying in to auto enrolment pensions are set out in law.

The minimum legal requirement is 8% of qualifying earnings. Your workplace must pay at least 3% and you must pay the remaining amount. So, if your workplace pays minimum 3%, you pay the remaining 5%.

Qualifying earnings are all earnings between a lower and upper limit set by the government and reviewed each year. They include salary or wages, commission, bonuses, overtime, statutory sick pay and statutory parental leave pay (maternity, paternity and adoption pay).

Your workplace pays in to your pension as well as you. If you stop paying in, your workplace stops paying in too. So you lose the extra money they pay in.  

If you don’t pay into your pension, you miss out on tax relief, which is extra money from the government.  

And you’ll miss out on building up any more pension savings for your future.

Yes, you can start paying in again at any time. If you have to stop paying in for a while, have a plan to start paying in again as soon as you can afford to.  

If you start paying in to your pension again, your workplace must also re-start its payments if you earn more than £6,240 a year (£520 a month or £120 a week).  

Log in to now:u. From your Snapshot, go to Start saving and follow the instructions.

MoneyHelper’s Help with the cost of living feature has lots of useful information, including cost of living guides and budgeting tools, including a bill prioritiser and a budget planner.  

Citizens Advice has a Get help with the cost of living feature highlighting benefits you may be able to claim and grants you may be able to apply for.   

If you’re struggling with debt, you’re not alone. The following organisations can help.