Overview

From 6 April 2024, the lifetime allowance was abolished.

Your pension members may still be able to apply for protected allowances from the 2016 reduction in the standard lifetime allowance. These protections will then apply to their new allowances. The deadline to apply for Fixed Protection 2016 and Individual Protection 2016 is 5 April 2025.

You’ll need to send an Event Report even if the member is relying on protected allowances and both of the follow apply: 

• the scheme administrator has made a payment of a lump sum or lump sum death benefit related to a relevant benefit crystallisation event
• the member has exceeded their available lump sum allowance

You’ll also need to make sure you give the right information to your members.

Protection before 2016 reduction

Before 2016 your members could hold one of the following protections:

• enhanced protection
• primary protection
• fixed protection
• individual protection 2014
• fixed protection 2014

Your members should give you the pension scheme administrator reference number for their protection and you’ll need to use this when testing their benefits.

Your members can find their reference number on their protection certificate or confirmation letter. Additionally, most members will be able to view it online through their Government Gateway user ID.Gateway.

You may decide to ask your member for a copy of their protection certificate so you can confirm the value of their protected allowances.

Protection from 2016 reduction

The protection notification number is in the format:

• FP16 followed by 10 digits and 1 letter, for fixed protection 2016 (for example FP161234567890A)
• IP16 followed by 10 digits and 1 letter, for individual protection 2016 (for example IP161234567890B)

The deadline to apply for Fixed Protection 2016 and Individual Protection 2016 is 5 April 2025.

Temporary reference numbers are no longer valid. If your member has one they’ll need to apply for a permanent protection notification number.

Protected allowances look-up service

To check if your member has protected their allowances, you can use the protected allowances scheme administrator look-up service.

To use the look-up service, you’ll need:

• your member’s National Insurance number
• your member’s surname
• your member’s protection notification number
• your member’s pension scheme administrator check reference number

In most cases, your members can find these reference numbers through their Government Gateway user ID, even if they did not apply for lifetime allowance protection online.