Manage your annuity policy

We understand that bereavement can be a difficult time and we want to make letting us know about a death as simple as possible. Please give us a call so that we can help you through the process. 

The documents we’ll ask you to provide can vary based on the circumstances, but we can explain this when you call. We’ll return any original documents you send to us once we’ve taken a copy for our records. We’d recommend that you send any originals using Recorded Delivery.

What happens to an annuity when a policyholder dies depends on the benefits chosen when it was set up. Please get in touch to find out more.

We can accept your new details over the phone or by post. If it’s a change of address, please let us know at the earliest opportunity. If you change your name, we’ll need to see a copy of the relevant legal documents along with your old and new signatures.

To change your bank details you’ll need to send us a signed letter, including your new bank name, sort code, account number and roll number if applicable. The account must be held solely or jointly in your name.

If you’re moving abroad we can either continue to pay into your UK bank account, or, depending on which country you’re moving to, we may be able to pay into an overseas account. Please get in touch for more information.

Your annuity may need to be included as part of your divorce proceedings, and even if no changes are made as a result of your divorce, the policy may be affected. Please get in touch for more information if you think divorce or separation is likely.

Your annuity payments are treated as an income which is normally subject to Income Tax in line with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) rules. When you take out your annuity, HMRC tell us which tax code to apply to your income. This tax code tells us how much tax is to be deducted.

For general taxation queries, you should contact the HMRC helpline or your local tax office.

If you live abroad, you may still need to pay tax on your UK pension income. For more information on paying tax while abroad or to ask for your annuity to be paid without the deduction of tax, please go to the HMRC website, or write to:

HMRC Centre for Non Residents
Fitzroy House
PO Box 46
Nottingham
NG2 1BD

You’ll receive a P60 annual statement after the end of each tax year if applicable. This will list the tax code used and the amount of tax that was deducted from the annuity payments made in that tax year.

The UK tax year ends on 5 April and statements won’t be released until after this date.

When you set up your annuity you will have chosen whether to apply any increases to your payments. Increases could be based on the Retail Prices Index (RPI) or the Limited Prices Index (LPI), which are set by the Government, or you may have chosen fixed escalations (which means your payments go up by a fixed amount).

RPI goes up and down in line with inflation. If RPI is negative we will not decrease your annuity payments.

LPI is based on the RPI factor of September the previous year. It won’t increase higher than 5% in any one year. 

Our With Profits Pension Annuity is an annuity that ties your annual income into the performance of Aviva’s with-profits funds. 

The amount you receive is determined each year by comparing the Regular Bonus Rate against the Anticipated Bonus Rate (ABR) that you chose when your plan started. There may also be an additional bonus added after the basic amount has been calculated.

If an annuity is decreasing it will not fall below the guaranteed minimum payment you selected when setting up the annuity.

A With Profits Pension Annuity can be converted to a conventional Pension Annuity at any point from the first year after commencement. You can also opt to change your ABR. 

If you’re finding it hard to manage your own affairs, you can appoint someone else to help you make decisions or to make decisions on your behalf. This can apply to decisions about your health and welfare, plus property and financial affairs. If you don’t appoint an attorney while you are able, an application to the Court of Protection to appoint a Deputy will be needed.

There are different types of power of attorney. We recommend speaking to a solicitor or visiting the websites below:

England and Wales: www.gov.uk
Scotland: www.gov.scot
Northern Ireland: www.justice-ni.gov.uk

If you want to convert other pensions into an annuity, you’ll need to submit a new application. Please speak to your financial adviser or visit our financial advice page.

We need letters of authority to be able to give information about a dependant’s benefit to a solicitor or financial adviser. A dependant can only provide a letter of authority if the policy owner is deceased unless they hold power of attorney.

If the dependant would like us to write to the solicitor or financial adviser with these details, they can send us a signed letter giving us permission. The letter must include all policy numbers along with the name, date of birth, full address and signature of the person they wish to give authority to.