Where can you get free pensions help and information before retirement?

22 May 2025

Written by Retirement Line

As you approach retirement, you will probably be thinking about how to make the most of your pension savings. Thankfully, there is free help available, in addition to the option of paid-for advice or guidance.

If you want to get proactive about pension matters in the run-up to retirement, here are some useful sources of help to ensure you understand your options.

Your pension scheme

Your defined contribution pension scheme provider is obligated to provide information about your retirement income options. For example, starting at age 50 and at different points in the run-up to your retirement, they should send you 'wake-up' packs outlining the various options.

Depending on the provider, they may also offer seminars (either in person or online), and one-to-one consultations. Some schemes also provide calculator-style tools to help you look at how much income you might be able to generate from your pension savings. (Retirement Line also provides a free online annuity calculator.) 

One issue to navigate is the timing of accessing this support. You can access your defined contribution pension savings from age 55 (rising to age 57 from 2028), but you may not be looking to retire for a decade or more after this. It may therefore be worth checking with your scheme to make sure you can access the support and information you need, when you need it.

Your scheme may also offer subsidised financial advice. This can represent a significant saving and may mean you can benefit from the Pensions Advice Allowance. This lets you take £500 from your pension tax-free to cover advice fees. You can do this no more than once in a tax year, and up to three times in total.

Pension Wise

Pension Wise is the government-backed pension guidance service. It offers free impartial guidance to over-50s about your options for taking money from defined contribution schemes. They can also explain how each option is taxed, which could be important in helping you make an informed decision about your retirement income.

The Pension Wise service is delivered by the Money and Pensions Service and Citizens Advice. See our guide to Pension Wise for more information about how this service works.

The Pension Tracing Service

If you don’t know the contact details of one or more of your pension schemes, and your previous employer/s can’t help, then you can use the Pension Tracing Service. This is a free government service that searches a database of workplace and personal pension schemes to reconnect savers with their money.

The State Pension Service

For many of us, the State Pension will of course form an important part of our overall retirement income. When it comes to understanding your State Pension entitlement, the gov.uk website has a number of useful guides and tools. 

For example, you can check how much State Pension you are on track to receive at www.gov.uk/check-state-pension. This service is also where you can find out when you’ll get your State Pension, and if you can increase it by filling any gaps in your National Insurance Contributions.

Help from Retirement Line

Here at Retirement Line, we have worked hard to create a number of useful resources to help you better understand your retirement income options. Here are some to get started with:

Our retirement blog features dozens of useful articles – scroll down the list of blogs and you’ll see articles on a wide range of pension topics.

Also on our website, you’ll find articles on two of the main options for taking income from a defined contribution pension: annuities and income drawdown.

We also offer an annuity quotes and information service. In this telephone-based service, our Annuity Guidance Team compares the best annuity quotes from the UK’s leading annuity providers. Only if we arrange an annuity for you will we be paid a commission from the provider, which is taken into account when calculating their annuity rate. 

Make sure you are well-informed about retirement income

It’s never too late to brush up on your pension knowledge. As you approach retirement, make sure you understand how your pension works and what your income options will be. 

Investing some time in this now could translate into a more comfortable retirement later. It may even help you avoid common pitfalls that might otherwise reduce your income when you need it most.