Pension Wise: free guidance on your pension options

Pension Wise is a free and impartial government service that helps you understand your pension options¹. It is designed for people over the age of 50 with a defined contribution pension, the kind of pension whose value depends on what has been paid in and how the investments have performed². An appointment is free, lasts about an hour, and can be held over the phone on 0800 138 3944, online, or in person through Citizens Advice³.

The service marks its 10th anniversary in 2025, and it is delivered by the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) on its MoneyHelper website². Over that decade it has helped people work out when they can access their pension pots, the different ways to take money from them, how each option is usually taxed, and how to spot and avoid scams². It exists because the pension freedoms introduced in April 2015 gave people far more choice about what to do with their savings, and with that choice came the need for somewhere neutral to explain it⁴.

What Pension Wise does not do is recommend a product. It gives guidance, not advice: it will explain what an annuity is, what drawdown is and how each is taxed, but it will not tell you which one to buy or which provider to use. That distinction matters both for what you get from an appointment and for what it costs, and this page explains it in full.

What Pension Wise is: free, impartial guidance on your pension options

Pension Wise was set up by the government as a free, impartial service because the pension freedoms created a set of decisions that most people had never had to make before⁷. Where a defined contribution pension used to lead fairly automatically to buying an annuity, since April 2015 the options have included taking the whole pot, taking lump sums, or leaving the money invested and drawing an income from it⁴. Pension Wise exists to explain those options in plain terms, without selling anything.

The service is delivered by the Money and Pensions Service, an arm's-length body sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions, and appointments are booked and held through the MoneyHelper website². It is free at the point of use: the government describes it as "a free at the point of use pensions guidance service set up by the Government"⁸. There is no charge at any stage, and no product is sold during or after an appointment.

Its scope is deliberately wide but bounded. It provides guidance on the options open to people as a result of the pension freedoms introduced by the government in April 2015⁴, which in practice means the main ways of turning a defined contribution pot into money:

• taking a scheme pension, a secured pension for life paid out of the scheme assets or purchased from an insurance company
• buying an annuity
• drawing an income directly from the pension fund as a drawdown pension⁹

Each of these has its own page in this guide, covering ways to take money from your pension, annuities and drawdown in detail.

What a Pension Wise appointment covers

A Pension Wise appointment can help you find out when you can access your pension pots, the different ways to take money from your pension, how each option is usually taxed, and how to spot and avoid scams². Those four things are the core of every appointment, whatever format it takes.

In practice, the conversation is shaped by what you bring to it. The specialist guiding the appointment will typically talk through:

• when you can access your pots, including the normal minimum pension age and any earlier access your scheme allows
• the full range of ways to take money, from withdrawing the whole pot to buying a guaranteed income
• how each option is usually taxed, including the tax-free element and how withdrawals are treated
• how to spot and avoid pension scams, which the service treats as a standing part of the discussion²

The appointment is not a one-off lecture. Official evaluations of the service have found that 88 per cent of appointment users said Pension Wise helped improve their understanding of their pension options, and 94 per cent were very or fairly satisfied with their overall experience¹⁰. The same evaluation found that half of customers had either withdrawn or made arrangements to withdraw money from at least one of their defined contribution pensions after using the service¹¹, which suggests many people arrive at an appointment close to a decision and use it to check their thinking.

The format has also widened over time. Alongside the original phone and face-to-face appointments, a digital appointment was introduced in 2024², and Pension Wise Digital is designed to fit around your schedule, so you can start the appointment and pick it up again in your own time⁶. The service has delivered appointments at scale since its early days, with over 47,000 appointments recorded by February 2016¹².

Who can use Pension Wise: over 50 with a defined contribution pension

The service is designed for those over the age of 50 with a defined contribution pension². If you have a UK-based defined contribution pension, you can have a free Pension Wise appointment⁵. A defined contribution pension is one where the pot depends on contributions and investment growth, which includes most workplace pensions set up since automatic enrolment began and most personal pensions.

The age rule is not absolute. You can have an appointment if you are 50 or over, or under 50 in certain circumstances: if you are retiring early due to poor health, if you have inherited a pension, or if your scheme lets you take your pension before age 55⁵. The same exceptions appear in the guidance on adjustable income, so they apply across the appointment types¹³.

There is also provision for people living abroad. Expatriates are entitled to Pension Wise appointments where they are 50 years or older with a defined contribution pension provision¹⁴. Overseas customers can contact the pensions helpline by phone, which is an accessible 020 phone number¹⁴, so being outside the UK does not rule the service out.

If you are over 50 and thinking about transferring your pension, Pension Wise can help with impartial guidance on that too¹⁵. Transfers have their own risks and, for some defined benefit schemes, their own advice requirements, which are covered in transferring pensions to another provider and when advice is required to transfer.

Pension Wise is free and gives guidance, not advice

Pension Wise appointments are free and impartial¹³. The government set the service up specifically as a free impartial service⁷, and it remains free at the point of use⁸. Nobody is charged for guidance, and the appointment does not lead to a sales call.

The distinction between guidance and advice is the most important thing to understand before booking. Guidance explains the options: what exists, how it works, how it is usually taxed. Advice goes further and recommends a specific course of action for your circumstances. Pension Wise does the first and not the second. It explains the options for taking money from your defined contribution pension², but it will not tell you which annuity to buy, which drawdown provider to choose, or whether to take your whole pot in one go.

For a recommendation, the official guidance is to speak to a financial adviser¹⁶. Regulated financial advice is a paid service, and the difference in cost is the mirror of the difference in outcome: Pension Wise costs nothing and leaves the decision with you; advice costs money and gives you a recommendation, along with the protections that come with regulated advice if that recommendation turns out to be unsuitable.

Neither route is inherently better. Someone with a single small pot and straightforward circumstances may find a free guidance appointment is enough to make a confident decision. Someone with several pots, a final salary pension to consider, or complex tax position may need regulated advice. Pension Wise specialists can help you work out which situation you are in.

The stronger nudge: being pointed to Pension Wise when you access a pot

Since the pension freedoms, the rules have increasingly pushed people towards guidance at the moment they try to access their savings. When a member of a trust-based scheme asks to access their defined contribution pot, the scheme offers a Pension Wise appointment. A person cannot opt out of the appointment at the same time they are offered one: anyone wishing to opt out must proactively contact their scheme to do so¹⁰. The offer and the opt-out are deliberately separated, so declining is a considered step rather than a reflex.

The effect of this design is that most people who go to access their pot will at least be offered guidance before they do. The service's own evaluation found that 53 per cent of appointment bookers cited pension providers as somewhere they heard about Pension Wise¹¹, which suggests the nudge from providers and schemes is already a major route by which people find the service.

If you are offered an appointment when you try to access your pot, taking it costs nothing and does not commit you to anything. Opting out is possible, but it requires contacting your scheme separately, and the appointment itself is often the last free check available before decisions that cannot easily be undone.

Phone, online or face to face: ways to have your appointment

Pension Wise offers free face-to-face and telephone guidance, alongside its website¹⁷. A Pension Wise appointment is an hour-long appointment over the phone on 0800 138 3944, online, or in person through Citizens Advice³. All three formats cover the same ground; the choice is about what suits you.

• Phone: an hour-long appointment on 0800 138 3944, with UK calls free³.
• Online: a digital appointment, introduced in 2024, which you can start and pick up again in your own time².
• Face to face: an in-person appointment through Citizens Advice³.

The digital option is the most flexible. Pension Wise Digital fits around your schedule, so you can start the appointment and pick it up again in your own time⁶, which suits people who cannot easily set aside a full hour at a fixed time, or who prefer to work through information at their own pace.

Beyond appointments, MoneyHelper offers other ways to talk to a pension specialist: webchat, WhatsApp, or a phone call⁶. Webchat operates Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, and is closed at weekends and on bank holidays¹⁸. WhatsApp messages are answered between Monday and Friday, 9am to 5pm, except bank holidays¹⁸. UK calls are free and may be recorded to improve the service¹⁸.

How to book a Pension Wise appointment

Booking is free and can be done through the MoneyHelper website or by phone on 0800 138 3944³. If you are 50 or over, you can get a free Pension Wise appointment¹⁹, and the booking process will ask about your pension arrangements so the specialist can prepare.

The steps are straightforward:

1. Go to the MoneyHelper website or call 0800 138 3944³.
2. Confirm your eligibility: aged 50 or over with a UK-based defined contribution pension, or under 50 with one of the exceptions such as ill-health retirement or an inherited pension⁵.
3. Choose your format: phone, online, or face to face through Citizens Advice³.
4. Gather your pension information, including recent statements, so the specialist can talk through your actual figures.
5. Attend the appointment, which lasts about an hour⁶.

Many people first hear about the service through their pension provider: 53 per cent of appointment bookers cited pension providers as somewhere they heard about Pension Wise¹¹. If your provider or scheme writes to you offering an appointment, that offer is the same free service described here.

Help if you are under 50 or have a different kind of pension

If you are under 50 and need guidance, you can still call or webchat with one of MoneyHelper's pension specialists¹⁵. The full Pension Wise appointment is reserved for the over-50s and the exceptions listed above, but the MoneyHelper pension specialists can talk through the same topics in a shorter conversation.

For people with pensions that are not defined contribution pots, the position differs:

• Defined benefit and final salary pensions. These pay a guaranteed income linked to your salary and years of service, so the range of options Pension Wise covers does not apply in the same way. See defined benefit pensions and public sector schemes.
• The State Pension. Guidance on the State Pension, including claiming it, is separate: in England, Scotland or Wales you claim through GOV.UK online, or by phone or post through the Pension Service²⁰. In Northern Ireland, the service is run through the Pension Centre there.
• Workplace pensions still building up. For advice about increasing your workplace or private pension, the official guidance is to speak to a financial adviser¹⁶.

MoneyHelper also provides free and impartial debt advice, money guidance and pension guidance to members of the public across all ages²¹, so being under 50 does not leave you without support. Its guides are available in English and Welsh, and in print, braille or audio format, free of charge²².

Pension Wise and MoneyHelper: how the service fits together

Pension Wise is one part of a wider government-backed guidance service. The Money and Pensions Service replaced the three existing providers of government-sponsored financial guidance: the Money Advice Service, The Pensions Advisory Service and Pension Wise²¹. MoneyHelper, the consumer-facing service, brings together the support and services of those three former providers²³.

MoneyHelper was launched in June 2021 as a consumer-facing service offering free and impartial money and pensions guidance²⁴. The Money and Pensions Service is an arm's-length body, sponsored by the Department for Work and Pensions and funded by levies on both the financial services industry and pension schemes²⁴, which is why the guidance costs the user nothing.

In practice, this means Pension Wise appointments are booked and delivered through MoneyHelper, and the MoneyHelper helpline, 0800 138 7777, is the general number for money and pension guidance²². Pension Wise remains the name for the over-50s pension appointment service within that structure². The Money and Pensions Service also has partnership managers covering Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and regions across England²², so the service operates UK-wide.

Scams: Pension Wise will never contact you out of the blue

Pension scams are one of the standing topics of a Pension Wise appointment, and the guidance is blunt: do not withdraw or transfer your pension because of a cold call, visit, email or text. It is likely a scam designed to steal your money⁵. The same warning applies to accessing your pension or transferring money to a provider approached in that way¹³.

The genuine service will never approach you first. The Money and Pensions Service has never, and will never, turn up to your home or contact you out of the blue via phone, WhatsApp, email or text, and it will never charge anyone for its services²⁷. The Pensions Ombudsman gives the same assurance about itself: "We will never contact you out of the blue."²⁸

If someone contacts you claiming to be from Pension Wise, MoneyHelper or the Pensions Ombudsman and you did not ask them to, treat it as a scam. Other warning signs include being asked for your bank details by text, social media, email or via links to click within a text or email: the State Pension claim service will never ask for bank details that way, and suspicious messages should be reported²⁹.

If you have been affected by a scam, MoneyHelper offers free, non-judgemental, confidential support, and its Financial Crimes and Scams Unit can be called on 0800 015 4402²⁷. Shame should not be a barrier: one in three UK adults (31 per cent) said they would be uncomfortable telling friends they had been scammed, and less than half (46 per cent) would be comfortable telling their families if they had lost money to a scam³⁰. The scams unit exists precisely because being targeted is common. More warning signs are covered in pension scams.

Where the service stops

Knowing what Pension Wise cannot do helps you use it well. It gives guidance, not advice, so it will not recommend products, providers or a specific course of action². It is not a complaints service either: MoneyHelper does not have statutory powers and can only affect a resolution through persuasion and conciliation³¹. If you have a complaint about a pension scheme, the formal route starts with the scheme's own internal dispute resolution procedure, and only after that process has been exhausted can the member go to MoneyHelper or the Pensions Ombudsman to try to resolve the complaint³¹. The full complaints route is covered in the Pensions Ombudsman and complaining about a pension.

Pension Wise also does not check your specific paperwork in the way an adviser would, and it does not cover every pension type: the appointment is built around UK-based defined contribution pots⁵, with the State Pension and defined benefit schemes handled through other guidance routes. Where your situation needs a personal recommendation, a regulated financial adviser is the appropriate next step¹⁶, and the guidance appointment itself will usually make clear when that is the case.