How to take a lump sum or withdraw from a Fidelity SIPP

Fidelity SIPP withdrawal starts at 55 (57 from 2028): you can take tax-free cash, drawdown income or lump sums, mostly online or by phone.

Fidelity sets its own steps, minimums and timescales, set out here from its retirement pages and its key features document (August 2026). Pension Wise gives free, impartial, government-backed guidance from MoneyHelper on the choices.

Taking money from a Fidelity SIPP: the steps

Fidelity says: “If you’re 55 and over and ready to start withdrawing money from your Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) with Fidelity, we’ll help you through the process online or by phone.” The key features document adds that the minimum age “is currently 55 and it is due to rise to 57 on 6 April 2028”. Once Fidelity has set out its choices, the sums still depend on you: the form on this page can get an FCA-authorised adviser to ring and talk it over, free. That is optional, and the steps below do not need it.

For tax-free cash or lump sums, you apply online and answer eligibility questions: whether you have taken pension benefits before, whether you hold a protection or a transitional tax-free amount certificate, and whether you have had guidance or advice. To change or start income from an existing drawdown account, you log in, choose ‘Manage investments’ and then ‘Move or withdraw cash’, with your bank details and the gross amount ready. Fidelity’s retirement team takes calls from 8:30am to 5:30pm, Monday to Friday. Fidelity’s tax-free cash page says you can apply online without a phone call, yet its key features document (August 2026) says anyone accessing withdrawal options through Fidelity is “required to make an appointment with Fidelity’s retirement service”, which it calls free. Either way, advice is optional.

Fidelity SIPP withdrawal options: tax-free cash, drawdown or UFPLS

Fidelity describes three routes, which can be combined, and an annuity can be bought later (see how drawdown works).

• Tax-free cash only. Fidelity says “you can do this with Flexi Access Drawdown (FAD)”, all at once or in stages. What is left moves into a drawdown account, from which income or lump sums are taxed as earnings.
• Drawdown income. There is “no upper or lower limit to how much income you can take from a flexi-access drawdown account”. Income can be ad hoc or regular, paid monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly on the 10th or the 25th of the month, and regular income is always taxable.
• UFPLS lump sums. Fidelity calls this an “uncrystallised withdrawal”: ad hoc lump sums with no drawdown account, 25% of each tax-free and 75% taxed like earnings, with the rest staying invested. A regular payment cannot be set up from it.

Capped drawdown is open only to people who set up a capped account before 6 April 2015. How the routes differ in practice is on flexi-access drawdown against UFPLS, how an UFPLS works and claiming the tax-free lump sum; set against a lifetime income, see annuity or drawdown.

Who can withdraw online, and who has to phone Fidelity?

For the online route Fidelity lists these conditions: being at least 55, having a Fidelity SIPP with at least £10,000 available, having details of withdrawals from other providers ready, having read its retirement pack dated within the last 12 months, and being a UK resident. Some people have to ring instead, including those living outside the UK, holding a protected lifetime allowance or a transitional tax-free amount certificate, having under £10,000 in the account, having “taken more than 90% of your Lump Sum Allowance”, taking a pension before 55 for ill health, or holding a capped drawdown account.

The two minimums test different things: £10,000 is the floor for applying online, while the key features document sets drawdown eligibility, for anyone who has not taken benefits before, at: “Your pension account value must be at least £50,000.” Fidelity’s drawdown page gives that figure for a pension transferred in to start drawdown; one already in drawdown elsewhere needs a transfer value of at least £100. Which routes are open with a pot between the two is something an adviser who rings you back free can untangle; the form here starts that.

How long a Fidelity SIPP withdrawal takes

For tax-free cash, lump sums or a one-off drawdown payment, Fidelity usually pays within eight working days if there is enough cash, or up to 13 if investments must be sold. A new bank account Fidelity cannot verify may delay it. For regular income Fidelity confirms your plan in writing, including the first payment date. Timings elsewhere are in cash-in timescales across providers.

What Fidelity charges when you take money out

Fidelity’s key features document answers: “No, we do not charge any administration charges for taking withdrawals from the SIPP.” Its drawdown page says there is no set-up, one-off withdrawal or annual drawdown fee, so you pay the usual SIPP service fee plus the charges on your funds and investments. Some banks in Northern Ireland may charge for CHAPS payments, normally £6. The fee bands are on Fidelity SIPP fees, and the wider picture on whether the Fidelity SIPP is good.

Tax, allowances and risk when you withdraw

Fidelity says many pensions allow up to 25% as tax-free cash, limited by your remaining lump sum allowance. Beyond that, you “can withdraw as much as you want alongside, … this will be subject to income tax at your marginal rate”. Taxable withdrawals can also cut what you can pay in later: the annual allowance “could drop to £10,000”, the money purchase annual allowance (see the MPAA explained and how drawdown is taxed).

Investment values can fall as well as rise, so you may get back less than you put in, and Fidelity warns: “Income from pension drawdown is not guaranteed, so you need to manage how much income you take.” Because your tax-free amount, allowances and timing all interact, an FCA-authorised adviser phoning after you request one on the call-back form can go through the sums with you, free.

Fidelity SIPP age, small pot and lump sum questions

Is 55 the earliest I can take money from my Fidelity pension?

Fidelity gives 55 as the normal minimum, rising to 57 on 6 April 2028. Paying in is a separate rule: to contribute you need to be under 75 and UK tax resident. Ill-health requests go through its retirement team by phone, and some people have a protected pension age below the normal minimum. See also pensions at 55.

Can I cash in my whole Fidelity pension at once?

Fidelity’s pages describe taking as much as you want, with everything above the tax-free part taxed as income. Its key features document warns that withdrawing all your savings “may have a dramatic effect on your future retirement income levels”. The wider rules are on taking your pension as a lump sum.

What if my Fidelity SIPP is under £10,000?

Fidelity says funds of £10,000 or less in money purchase arrangements can be paid as lump sums without touching the lump sum allowance, if you have not already taken three or more small pots; up to 25% can still be tax-free. Under £10,000, you apply by phone, not online. See small pot pension rules.

Can I keep paying into my Fidelity SIPP after withdrawing?

Fidelity says yes: “you can continue to contribute even if you have taken withdrawals from your SIPP account”. The limit depends on how you took the money, because taxable withdrawals can bring in the lower £10,000 allowance above.

Anyone unsure what a Fidelity withdrawal means for their State Pension, tax code or other pots can ask for a free adviser call through the enquiry form here.