The flexible way to take retirement income
Important information - the value of investments and the income from them can go down as well as up so you may get back less than you invest. Eligibility to invest in a SIPP and tax treatment depends on personal circumstances and all tax rules may change in the future. You cannot normally access money in a SIPP until age 55 (57 from 2028). It’s important to understand that pension transfers are a complex area and may not be suitable for everyone.
Many people find the prospect of entering drawdown a little daunting. It needn't be. At Fidelity we're here to guide you through it.
Pension drawdown allows you to take the income you want, whenever you need it - giving you total flexibility over your retirement savings. And, as the money you don't drawdown stays invested, it has the potential to continue to grow and provide for your future although this isn't guaranteed. It'll keep benefitting from tax efficiencies too. It can also be passed onto your loved ones when you die.
New to drawdown? Learn more.You’ve worked hard to save for your retirement. Perhaps you've got it all mapped out. Or perhaps you're looking forward to going with the flow. Either way, if you're looking for flexibility when accessing your pension savings, you might want to think about pension drawdown.
But drawdown is just one of the ways you can take an income from our award-winning Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP). And because we understand it's a big decision, we're here to support you and make the necessary arrangements - either through our online service or with the help of our retirement specialists.
Income flexibility - you choose how much to take from your pension, and when to take it, as your circumstances change. This includes taking up to 25% as tax-free cash, either as a lump sum or in stages, as long as this amount is not higher than your remaining lump sum allowance.
No drawdown fees - you don’t have to pay to draw down your pension from Fidelity's award-winning SIPP. There’s no set up, one-off withdrawal or annual drawdown fees. All you pay is our usual service fee for our SIPP and the fund/investment charges based on what you choose, set by the companies and funds you decide to invest into.
Easy access to your money online - you can take taxable income payments or tax-free cash or lump sums online. Find out how to withdraw your money.
Specialist support - Fidelity's retirement specialists are just a phone call away when you need them. They can make the complex world of pension drawdown easier to navigate by clearly taking you through your income options and demystifying your lifetime and money purchase annual allowances. They can also help you set up regular income payments.
If your pension isn't already in a Fidelity SIPP, you'll need to transfer it to us before you enter drawdown. Your pension account value must be at least £50,000. If you've already started taking drawdown from your pension from another provider, you can still transfer it.
When the time comes to access your pension, you’ve got options. If you’re already a customer, you can read about how to take tax-free cash, lumps sums or regular income here. On the other hand, if you’d like to talk to someone, there’s no fee for our comprehensive guidance service. It’s ideal if you want to make your own decisions. But if your needs are quite complex, or you really want a personal recommendation, then advice might suit you better. Any advice you receive is personalised to your needs, making this a service you pay for.
Find out how bringing pensions together can make it easier to manage your retirement savings, and whether this would be suitable for you.
Need help with pension drawdown? Our retirement specialists offer free guidance and personalised paid for advice services. We're open 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.
The government's Pension Wise service offers free, impartial guidance to help you understand your options at retirement. You can access the guidance online or over the telephone on 0800 011 3797.
We believe in giving you great value, so we charge an annual service fee, payable monthly, based on the value of all your investments. And did we mention all the award-winning , on-the-go access and support with investing you get? That’s all included in our service fee.
We add all your accounts together before we work out which fee band you’re in, meaning we’ll charge you the lowest rate.
The table below shows how this fee changes, as your investments increase.
To see this in more detail please read the .
| Total value of investments | Service fee (annual amount or rate) |
|---|---|
| Less than £7,500 | 0.35% if you have a regular savings plan or £45 if you don't |
| Less than £7,500, held in a Junior ISA/SIPP | £25 |
| £7,500 or more but less than £250,000 | 0.35% |
| £250,000 or more but less than £1 million | 0.20% |
| £1 million+ | 0.20% a year for the first £1 million and no service fee for investments over £1 million. This means the maximum fee you will ever pay for all of your personal accounts is £2,000 a year. |
The same service fee is charged across all of your investments. So, if you hold £300,000 - the fee would be 0.20% across the full amount, and not 0.35% on the first £249,999 and then 0.20% a year on the remaining £50,001. For exchange traded instruments including investment trusts, this is capped at £45. There is no service fee for these investments held in the Fidelity Investment Account.
Ongoing fund charges are set by the company managing the fund and start from 0.06%.
Some funds may also have:
We’ve negotiated reduced ongoing charges on hundreds of funds on our platform. We recommend checking each investment's factsheet for more information, as investment charges as can differ between funds.
Download the Doing Business with Fidelity document for more fees and charges information.
Cash in the Fidelity SIPP is currently held as ‘Cash Within Your Account’.
We currently don’t charge a service fee on Cash Within Your Account. However, we reserve the right to retain an amount of the interest received from the bank(s) we deposit your money with to cover the cost of administering these cash balances. Please go to www.fidelity.co.uk/cash for further details.
We calculate the service fee at midnight on the first of every month and deduct it around the 15th of the following month.
We include any joint accounts when we’re adding up all your investments to work out what service fee rate you pay, ensuring the lowest possible charge.
The total value is then divided by 12 to determine the monthly amount that’s taken from your individual account.
We’ll take the service fee directly from your cash account, so we recommend always having cash in that account. If you don’t have enough, we’ll take it from your largest investment by value and by asset class – for example we will take the fee from the largest fund before we take it from an Exchange Traded Fund or Investment Trust.
We calculate the service fee at midnight on the first of every month and deduct it around the 15th of the following month.
We only count your joint accounts when we’re working out the service fee on them.
The total value is divided by 12 to determine the monthly amount that’s taken from your joint accounts.
We’ll take the service fee directly from your cash account, so we recommend always having cash in that account. If you don’t have enough, we’ll take it from your largest investment by value and by asset class – for example we will take the fee from the largest fund before we take it from an Exchange Traded Fund or Investment Trust.
In most cases, this won’t actually make any difference to what you pay, as taking 0.35% from two accounts separately is the same as taking 0.35% from the accounts added together.
However, if you hold £5,000 in an individual account (such as an ISA) and £5,000 in a joint account, you’d pay the 0.35% service fee on the individual account (as the total value of investments is over £7,500 [£5,000+£5,000=£10,000]) plus the £45 a year fee on the joint account (as it’s below £7,500) - unless the joint account has a monthly regular savings plan of at least £50.
Here are some scenarios, for illustrative purposes only, that show how we would calculate what you would be charged. If you have less than £7,500 in total there will be a flat fee of £45 a year (£25 for Junior ISA and Junior SIPP), although this changes to 0.35% if you have a monthly regular savings plan (RSP). We will usually collect this fee in arrears in monthly instalments of £3.75 (or £2.08 for Junior ISA and Junior SIPP).
| Amount invested | Annual service fees with monthly RSP | Annual service fees without monthly RSP |
|---|---|---|
| £5,000 | £17.50 (0.35%) | £45 (flat fee) |
| £7,499 | £26.24 (0.35%) | £45 (flat fee) |
| £7,500 | £26.25 (0.35%) | |
| £12,500 | £43.75 (0.35%) | |
| £20,000 | £70.00 (0.35%) | |
| £55,000 | £192.50 (0.35%) | |
| £249,999 | £874.99 (0.35%) | |
| £250,000 | £500.00 (0.2%) | |
These fees does not apply to customers using an adviser please see below.
Invest @ Work pay deduction is only available for direct personal investors with Fidelity (i.e. investments that are not through an adviser).
The fees mentioned above are for investments held directly with Fidelity.
If you hold some investments through a financial adviser, then the charges will be different from the ones you hold directly with us.
We suggest you speak with your financial adviser to find out more about what charges and fees will be applied.
Find out more about our fees and charges
There's lots to consider when planning retirement, and we offer a wealth of guidance in the pensions & retirement section of our website. From retirement and legacy planning, to allowances and choosing investment options.
Our guide has everything you need to help you weigh up your options and see if drawdown is right for you. By downloading the guide, you'll also receive monthly retirement emails packed full of hints and tips to help you make smarter decisions.
Download pension drawdown guideOur award-winning approach
We don’t like to blow our own trumpet, but it's nice when someone else does. We’re also proud to be a Which? Recommended Provider for Self-Invested Personal Pensions – four years running.
Important information: This information and our guidance tools are not a personal recommendation for any particular product, service or course of action. Pension and retirement planning can be complex, so if you are unsure about the suitability of a pension investment, retirement service or any action you need to take, please contact Fidelity’s retirement service on 0800 368 6882 or refer to an authorised financial adviser of your choice.
