The Aviva pension plan you can open yourself is the Aviva Pension, a SIPP run online; a pension arranged through an employer is a separate product.

"Aviva pension plan" can mean either of two products, with different rules and different paperwork. This page sets out what Aviva's own documents say about each. If an Aviva plan is only one piece of your retirement picture, the form on this page puts you on an FCA-authorised adviser firm's call-back list, with no fee involved.

Two Aviva products: the SIPP you open, the plan your employer arranges

Aviva's documents draw the line themselves. The pension you open for yourself is the Aviva Pension, and its key features (print code RD01002 07/2026) describe it as a self-invested personal pension (SIPP) for building a retirement pot tax-efficiently, provided through Aviva's online investment service and run through MyAviva, which "is an online account that you must hold to have a Pension with Aviva". A pension arranged by an employer is the Company Pension, which Aviva's guide for employees (SP03303 08/2026) describes as "a group personal pension. It is a collection of individual personal pension plans arranged by an employer for their employees."

Different Aviva companies sit behind them: Aviva Pension Trustees UK Limited for the SIPP, Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited for the Company Pension. If your statement carries an older plan name, that plan's own key features and statements are the ones that apply, so ask Aviva for them. Aviva's SIPP page calls a SIPP "a type of personal pension which usually offers you a much wider choice of investments"; the general picture is in what a personal pension plan is and what a SIPP is, and the workplace side, including who must be enrolled, in the auto-enrolment rules. Charges for both are on Aviva pension charges.

Opening the Aviva Pension, paying in and the 30-day window

The key features say the plan might be right for someone aged 18 or over who is a permanent UK resident or has UK-taxed earnings from overseas Crown employment; living in the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man does not count as UK residence. Aviva's SIPP page sets the paying-in age at 18 to 75, and opening needs a MyAviva account, your National Insurance number and bank or debit card details.

The minimum, including tax relief on your own payments, is "a regular or fixed amount of £25 a month", or "a single payment of at least £5,000 or £1,000 if you're making regular payments of at least £25 per month". You and your employer can both pay in. Your own payments must come from your own funds and be eligible for tax relief, which Aviva claims for you (an employer claims its own relief outside the plan), and for that reason Aviva takes no new payments from age 75, although transfers may still be accepted. Stopping or reducing payments carries no penalty. How the relief works is in pension tax relief.

You can change your mind within 30 days of Aviva receiving your first payment; after a transfer in, the 30 days run from Aviva's confirmation that the money has been invested. The right ends if you take an income or tax-free cash within that period, and charges directly related to buying or selling investments are not refunded.

What the SIPP can hold, and moving older pensions in

The plan holds UK shares, investment trusts, exchange-traded funds, investment funds and "insured funds", with a cash account alongside. The SIPP page sets out four types of fund: the Universal Retirement Fund, its simplest option, which adjusts holdings as retirement approaches; ready-made funds; an Experts' Shortlist; and "more than 5,000 self-select funds". Regular payments can go into funds but not straight into shares or exchange-traded investments, and payments with no investment chosen sit in cash (see SIPP interest on cash). Investments can fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than you paid in.

Transfers are accepted from registered pension plans, with exclusions: the key features rule out defined contribution pensions with a guaranteed annuity rate or any other safeguarded benefits or guarantees, and defined benefit pensions. Existing shares and exchange-traded holdings cannot be moved over as they are. Benefits a transfer could cost you, on Aviva's list, include tax-free cash above 25%, loyalty bonuses, enhanced death benefits and the right to retire early, and "There's no guarantee that you'll be any better off by transferring." The steps are in how to transfer a pension, and an old final-salary scheme in the final salary pension guide.

Where an old plan carries one of those features, what moving it would mean is worth going through with an FCA-authorised adviser. Jot your Aviva and older plan names into the form on this page ahead of the call-back, which is free.

The Company Pension through an employer

Aviva's workplace page says "Your employer will usually set up your workplace pension for you without you having to ask", and offers default funds for members who prefer a hands-off approach. In the Company Pension guide the employer sends payments straight from salary, the minimum regular payment while employed is agreed with the employer, and members can make their own choices from the funds or investment approaches open to their plan. Someone who leaves and keeps paying in faces a minimum, currently £20 a month.

Depending on the type of scheme, the guide gives one month (30 days) after joining to opt out or cancel. For scheme questions it says to ask your employer first; whether an employee can change provider is in workplace pension providers.

Taking the money out: the options in each plan

For each option the SIPP key features say you can normally take up to 25% as a tax-free lump sum. The earliest age is the normal minimum pension age: 55 until 5 April 2028, and from 6 April 2028 age 57 unless you have a protected pension age. Free, government-backed guidance on the choices comes from Pension Wise, open to anyone aged 50 or over.

In the SIPP, drawdown can be taken as needed or regularly, with no minimum to move into it. An annuity can be bought from Aviva but not through the online service. The lump sum option, which pays taxable money alongside the tax-free part, triggers the Money Purchase Annual Allowance. In the Company Pension, drawdown payments can be taken as and when needed but cannot be set up as regular payments, and the pot must be used before age 75; someone wanting to wait longer would have to transfer to another pension before their 75th birthday. More on each route is in pension drawdown, pension annuities and Aviva pension annuity rates.

Aviva pension plan questions people ask

Can I have an Aviva SIPP and a workplace pension?

Aviva's SIPP FAQ says a SIPP is not meant as a replacement for a workplace pension but can be used alongside it. Whether to split saving between them is a question for your own figures; the employer's contribution rate is one thing to check first.

How do I sign up for an Aviva pension or get a quote?

For the SIPP, Aviva's page has an "Open a new pension and get a quote" button and asks for a MyAviva account. A company scheme is joined through the employer.

What is Aviva Life & Pensions?

It is Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited, the firm named in the Company Pension guide, which gives its firm reference number as 185896. The SIPP's provider is Aviva Pension Trustees UK Limited, register number 465132.

How does a pension sharing order work with an Aviva pension?

A sharing order is made on divorce, and the way it works is explained in pensions on divorce. Ask Aviva directly how it handles an order for your type of plan.

Your next step

Which Aviva plan fits depends on your other pensions, your employer and your plans for the money. Pairing Aviva against other routes is a task for an FCA-authorised adviser; asking for one costs the reader nothing when done through the form on this page.

Sources, read 20 October 2026: Aviva, Key features of the Pension (RD01002 07/2026); Aviva, Your company pension scheme (SP03303 08/2026); Aviva's SIPP and workplace pension web pages. Aviva's terms can change.