Aviva Pension

You can open an Aviva Pension if you’re:

• Over 18
• A UK resident
• Eligible for tax relief on your pension payments

You may also be eligible if you, your spouse or civil partner work overseas for the UK Government.

To get the most out of the Aviva Pension, you need to put money in investment funds. There are three ways to choose the funds you invest in:

• Ready made funds: Aviva investors have built 4 fund packages for you to choose from, with different levels of risk.
• The experts’ shortlist: choose your own funds from a shortlist of around 70, handpicked by Aviva Investors.
• The full funds range: Choose from our full range of around 2000 funds.

You don’t have to choose your investments as soon as you open an Aviva Pension. We’ll hold your money in a cash account, currently at a variable interest rate of 0.25% tax free/AER, until you tell us how you’d like to invest it. Make sure you check the interest rate on the cash account beforehand – if it’s less than what we charge for managing it, the amount in the cash account will reduce. HSBC is currently the provider of our cash accounts, although this may change from time to time.

The value of your Aviva Pension can go down as well as up. You may get back less than the amount paid in.

Every fund has a level of risk. Investing in riskier ‘volatile’ funds may lead to larger falls in the value of your pension, but could also result in higher returns.

These are the charges associated with an Aviva Pension. Here’s how they work:

Aviva charge

This is our annual charge for managing your investments. It’s applied to the total value of your investments, including any other products you have with us on this platform, such as Stocks & Shares ISA or Investment Account.

Value of your investments	Annual charge
First £50,000	0.40%
Next £200,000	0.35%
Next £250,000	0.25%
Amounts above £500,000	0.00%

The Aviva charge is taken monthly from your cash account – that’s the part of your account that holds your money before it’s invested – so make sure there’s enough money in there to cover the charge. Take a look at the terms and conditions (PDF 236KB) for more information about the cash account and the Aviva charge.

You need to make sure there is enough in your cash account to cover our charges. If there isn’t, we’ll automatically take the money from your investments. We’ll always get in touch with you first and make arrangements for you to pay the charge. See our terms and conditions for full details.

We’ll give you 30 days’ notice if we have to change our standard Aviva Charge.

Fund manager charge

The amount charged by fund managers depends on the investments you choose. These charges are known as the ongoing charges figure (OCF) and represent the annual cost of managing your investments. Go to Choose your investments to read more on fund manager charges.

Paper correspondence charge

You’ll normally receive information about your account online. If you’d rather receive paper correspondence, there’s a charge of £3.00 per month for this service.

By transferring any existing plans into your Aviva Pension, you’ll be keeping all your investments in one place.

What's the risk?

Sometimes you can lose valuable benefits by transferring, and we only accept some pensions, so make sure you weigh up your options first.

Your current pension provider may charge for transferring, and if your pension’s invested in stocks and shares, you won’t be invested in the market while the transfer takes place, so your investments won’t benefit from any rise in value.

We recommend that you get independent financial advice before deciding whether to transfer. An advisor may charge you for their services.

What tax relief is available?

You can usually get tax relief at the basic rate of tax (currently 20%) on regular and one-off payments into your Aviva Pension. This means for every £80 you pay in, the government will add £20, giving you a total payment of £100

If you pay tax at a higher rate, you can claim higher rate tax relief through your self-assessment returns. Visit hmrc.gov.uk for more information.

You don’t get tax relief on pension transfers, because you already received relief when you paid the money in.

Some investment returns may be received with tax credits, or other tax deductions, which cannot be reclaimed.

What are the limits for tax relief?

If you’re a UK taxpayer you’ll get tax relief on pension payments of up to 100% of your earnings or a £40,000 annual allowance – whichever is lower. You’ll pay income tax at the highest rate you pay on any payments you make into your pension over this limit.

You will have a reduced annual allowance if you have an income of:

• £110,000 or more (excluding payments into your pension).
• £150,000 or more (including payments into your pension).

This means your annual allowance will reduce by £1 for every £2 of income above £150,000, up to a maximum reduction of £30,000. This means your annual allowance could fall to £10,000.

If you take taxable money from your defined contribution pension, the amount you can save into this kind of pension and benefit from tax relief may reduce to £4,000. This is called the money purchase annual allowance (MPAA). See gov.uk’s page on annual allowance to find out more.

You can top up your annual allowance for the current tax year with any allowance you didn’t use from the previous three tax years. You can only do this if you were a member of a pension scheme during those years.

If you’re a UK non-taxpayer, you will still get tax relief on your pension contributions up to the higher of your earnings or £3,600.

How is pension income taxed?

You can usually take 25% of your pension as tax-free cash

You may have to pay income tax on any income you take. How much you pay will depend on your total income and personal circumstances at that time.

Tax treatment depends on an individual’s circumstances, and all information provided is based on current UK legislation, which may change in the future.

When can I access my money?

You normally need to be at least 55 before you can access your pension money. Find out more

Can I get an income before I’m 55?

No, unless you have an illness that stops you from working, or work in a protected occupation.

Before you open an Aviva Pension, you should read:

Key Features (491 KB)

Terms & Conditions (209 KB)

These important documents explain the basis of the agreement you'll be entering into.

You’ll manage your pension through MyAviva, an online hub that puts all your Aviva products and documents in one place.

Log in to:

• View your account and check how your investments are performing.
• Arrange to make changes to your investments at any time.
• Make new investments and manage your payments.

Download the MyAviva app to access your account wherever you are.