Taking AVC fund pot

[savo]

I have a RM AVC fund ( Bonusplan )

Current value is only around £1100 and I was hoping to take this at age 55 under the "stranded pots " rules ( as well as another AVC pot from a different employer )

Have been on phone to pensions service centre to see if could take the AVC pot at 55, while leaving final salary pension till 60.

The girl I spoke to didn't seem to think I could, but wasn't really clear one way or the other, maybe I will call again another time and hopefully get someone more clued up..

It does say in the statement, that IF YOU LEAVE SERVICE ( that's me )

you can choose to leave your AVC account invested until you take your pension benefits or transfer the total value of your AVC account to another pension arrangement. There are currently no charges made for transferring.So it seems clear you can transfer ( then I could withdraw it from new arrangement) but not clear on just being able to withdraw it ( which would be simpler obviously )

Confused, you will be....

[RobertT]

At the moment the stranded pots rule only applies if you’re aged 60 or higher, although ‘proposals’ in the recent budget suggested that from April 2015 that may be reduced to 55.
As rules stand now,I think the person you spoke to was correct but from next April that could change, nobody really knows exactly what’s going on yet as there is due to be a consultation before anything is put in stone.

[savo]

Yep agreed Robert, everythings in a state of flux now.