Transact Personal Pension Plan explained

The Transact Personal Pension Plan is an insured personal pension plan that lets you invest for retirement with tax relief, and it is designed for retail clients who want to use the services of a financial adviser¹. It is provided by IntegraLife exclusively for the Transact Platform, and it is written under trust and governed by a Trust Deed and incorporated Rules¹.

Two things shape everything else about it. First, it is advised only: the plan's distribution strategy is advised, not non-advised, so you cannot open one directly¹. Second, it is a pension, so your money is locked away until age 55, rising to 57 from 6 April 2028, and it offers no capital or expense guarantees, meaning you could get back less than you invest¹.

This page covers what the plan is, how it works, how its charges are structured, who can apply, how your money is protected, and what to do if something goes wrong. It does not give current rates or fees: the provider's own charges schedule and key features document carry today's figures.

What it is and who it is for

A personal pension is one you arrange yourself: you choose the provider and decide how your contributions will be paid, and you might do this through an independent financial adviser³. The Transact Personal Pension Plan sits in that category, but with a narrower audience than most. It is designed for retail clients who want to use the services of a financial adviser, and it is suitable for clients who have appointed a UK-based financial adviser regardless of their knowledge level or experience¹.

The plan is provided by IntegraLife exclusively for the Transact Platform, and Transact Trustees Limited is the trustee¹. Integrated Financial Arrangements is the scheme administrator². IntegraLife is authorised by the FCA, with reference number 110344, and appears on the Bank of England's list of UK insurers authorised to carry out contracts of insurance⁴. The company was incorporated on 26 March 1964 and is active⁶.

It is worth separating this plan from the Transact Self Invested Personal Pension, which is a different product provided by a different company, Integrated Financial Arrangements, also exclusively for the Transact Platform⁷. Both are aimed at advised clients, but they are not the same thing, and the SIPP has its own target market document.

The plan only invests in HMRC and FCA permissible assets that are appropriate for retail clients¹. It is written under trust, and it is governed by the law of England and Wales, with English courts having exclusive jurisdiction².

How it works

Money you pay in is invested in permissible assets, and the assets held under the policy are valued by the Scheme Administrator on a daily basis². Contributions must be paid in cash and in pounds sterling, and benefits are paid only in cash in pounds sterling².

The plan is a registered pension scheme, so the usual tax rules apply. You usually get tax relief on money you pay into a pension⁸. The Annual Allowance for 2025/2026 is £60,000, and you may be able to carry forward unused Annual Allowance from the last three tax years². If your total taxable income exceeds £260,000, a reduced Annual Allowance may apply, tapering by £1 for every £2 of taxable income above that threshold, but never below £10,000². Where relevant income is below £200,000, the reduced Annual Allowance does not apply². If you make a withdrawal from your accumulated funds or take income from the plan, you become subject to a money purchase annual allowance of £10,000².

There is a separate set of limits for tax-free cash. Twenty-five percent of the amount you request may be paid tax-free, subject to having sufficient Lump Sum Allowance available, and the Lump Sum Allowance is £268,275². The Lump Sum Death Benefits Allowance is £1,073,100². Any sales of investments held in the plan do not generally attract capital gains tax².

When you want to take benefits, you must give the Scheme Administrator at least one month's notice in writing of the option you have selected⁹. There is currently no requirement for a minimum income if you use flexi-access drawdown². If you take an uncrystallised funds pension lump sum, twenty-five percent of the lump sum is tax-free and the rest is subject to income tax⁹.

How the fees and charges work

The plan's charges come in layers, and the provider's charges schedule and key features document carry the current figures. What follows is how the structure works, not what it costs today.

The first layer is the platform or wrapper charge. Transact's charges schedule lists a quarterly fee for the Personal Pension Plan wrapper, and the schedule is published as version 42, dated June 2026¹⁰. That is a fixed charge for holding the wrapper, separate from what you pay for the investments inside it.

The second layer is the investment charge. On a personal pension you will usually be charged an annual management fee, which is a percentage of your pension's value, plus switching charges if you want to change the funds you invest in¹¹. Charges across pension products may include fund management charges, administration charges, entry fees, transfer or exit fees and trading fees¹². The pension provider may charge you for starting and running your pension, and usually takes a percentage from your pension fund¹³.

The third layer is anything triggered by a decision you make. Entry and exit fees have to be paid if you close down a pension or open a new one, and these are sometimes called pension transfer charges¹⁴. Exit fees may be a flat fee or a percentage of the fund, deducted from the pension balance, depending on the rules of your scheme¹⁵. Transferring a pension is normally free with most providers, with no charge from either your old or your new provider, but that is a general market position rather than a rule that binds every scheme¹⁶.

Two practical points about the plan itself. You must maintain a minimum cash balance equal to 2% of the value of your Transact Personal Pension Plan, which is money held in cash rather than invested². And cash held with Transact is grouped with other clients' money in accounts with a range of UK banks, safeguarded under the FCA's Client Asset rules and held separately from the firm's own cash¹⁷.

Who can apply and how to apply

The plan is not open to everyone. You must be eligible for tax relief on your personal contributions, and you must be aged under 75, or older if you are transferring benefits from another provider¹. You cannot make personal contributions on or after your 75th birthday². You must also have appointed a UK-based financial adviser, because the plan is advised only¹.

There are also circumstances where the plan is not suitable. It is unsuitable for anyone who wants access to their investments before age 55, rising to 57 from 6 April 2028¹. The plan does not offer a stakeholder pension, and where a stakeholder pension is available it may meet your needs at least as well as the Transact Personal Pension Plan².

The minimum payments to set up the plan are £100 per month, £300 per quarter, £600 per half-year or £1,200 per year, and one-off contributions have an initial minimum of £1,000². To open a Transact Portfolio you need a minimum one-off investment of £5,000, or a minimum investment of £1,000 plus a direct debit mandate for at least £200 per month².

Because there are no comparison sites for personal pensions, the route in is either to search and compare options manually or to pay a financial adviser³. If you are transferring an existing pension in, the usual steps are to check your current scheme allows transfers out, make sure you will not lose any benefits, decide which scheme to transfer into, check whether you need to pay for financial advice, ask your current provider for a transfer value, and ask the new scheme to start the transfer¹⁸. If you are moving a defined contribution pension, the FCA sets out the process and the risks¹⁸.

How your money is protected

The plan is provided by IntegraLife, and if that company became insolvent, the scheme would provide you with cover for at least 100% of the value of your Transact Personal Pension Plan². That is a high level of protection, and it reflects the fact that the provider is an insurer rather than a platform alone.

Beyond that, pension companies should ringfence your pension savings, which means that if they were to go bust, your pension would be safe¹⁹. Cash held with Transact is safeguarded under the FCA's Client Asset rules and held separately from the firm's own cash¹⁷.

There are limits to be aware of. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme does not cover defined benefit pension schemes themselves; the Pension Protection Fund protects those²⁰. If you are thinking about a transfer, the FSCS suggests asking your provider a set of questions, including whether FSCS protects your pension, how much of your pot is protected, whether there are other protections, whether you are still protected if you buy an annuity, and what would happen if something happened to the business²¹.

Money held in your pension usually cannot be claimed by anyone you owe money to, even if you are declared bankrupt or in a formal debt repayment plan, but money you have taken out can be claimed²². That distinction matters if you are in financial difficulty: the protection applies to the pension, not to income you have already drawn.

The Pension Schemes Act 2021 was introduced to protect members from pension scams by helping trustees of occupational pension schemes ensure transfers of pension savings are made to safe and not fraudulent schemes²⁴. The Pensions Regulator has urged vigilance after a rise in impersonation fraud against pension savers, and the Pension Scams Action Group, which it leads, brings together law enforcement, government and industry to tackle pension fraud²⁵.

Problems, complaints and getting help

If something goes wrong with the plan, the first step is Transact's own complaints process. If that does not resolve it, the Financial Ombudsman Service can look at complaints about personal pensions²⁷. In the first quarter of 2026/27 the ombudsman opened 931 complaints about personal pensions²⁸. In 2024/25 personal pensions were the most complained-about pension product, with 4,698 new complaints, and 44% of personal pension complaints were upheld in the fourth quarter of 2024/25²⁹.

The Pensions Ombudsman investigates and resolves complaints and disputes about occupational and personal pension schemes³¹. It can look at complaints about the administration of personal and occupational pension schemes³². Its member guidance covers how to complain about a pension problem, common complaint topics, who can complain, and what it can and cannot do, including overpayments, ill-health pensions, death benefits and incorrect pension information³³. The three most common topics of new pension complaints were contributions, retirement benefits and calculation of benefits, and the most common topics of closed complaints were contributions, retirement benefits and pension transfers³⁴.

Complaints about pension transfers often involve an adviser not disclosing higher charges, loss of guarantees such as guaranteed annuity rates, or market value adjustments on with-profits funds, unsuitable risk checks or investments, and loss of workplace pension benefits³⁵. If your concern is about a workplace pension scheme rather than this plan, schemes usually have an internal dispute resolution procedure you can use, and you can complain to MoneyHelper or the Pensions Ombudsman about how your workplace pension is managed³⁶.

Free help is available. MoneyHelper offers free, impartial guidance on personal pensions³. Pension Wise provides free guidance on taking a whole pot and on adjustable income³⁸. If you are over 55 and struggling with debt, StepChange offers support⁴⁰. If you have lost track of a pension, the Pension Tracing Service can help you find contact details for your own workplace or personal pension scheme, or for someone else's scheme with their permission⁴¹. If someone has died, the Tell Us Once service lets you report a death to government departments in one go⁴².