How to withdraw money from your Nest pension - UK guide

If you’ve an eye on retirement, you might want to start thinking about how you’ll access your pension in the UK - or overseas if you have plans to retire abroad.

If you have a pension with the government-backed online pension scheme Nest, this guide is for you.

Below, we’ll be looking at how to withdraw from your Nest pension, including steps to do it, rules, tax considerations and everything else you need to know.

Considering retiring abroad? You’ll need to use a solution like Wise to make sure you can receive your pension without losing out on currency exchange.

With a Wise account, once you receive your pension in GBP you can convert it to the local currency at the mid-market exchange rate. There’s only a small fee* to convert currency, and you can do everything online.

This means you don’t lose out on currency exchange rate losses and can make your retirement pot go even further.

Withdrawing money from a Nest pension

As Nest is an online pension provider, it makes it pretty easy to access your pension information and your pension pot. Everything you need is in your online account, so you’ll need to make sure you have your login details in order to get started.

Nest offers a few different options to withdraw your pension:¹

• Withdraw a single lump sum
• Withdraw several lump sums
• Take your money as regular withdrawals, through the Nest Guided Retirement Fund.

If you want to, you can also choose to delay your retirement and continue to invest - so your pension pot keeps on growing.

Before you make any big decisions on your pension though, it’s recommended to seek professional financial advice. You can also get information and guidance on the UK government’s Money Helper website.

Can I withdraw my pension early?

With Nest, the minimum age you can withdraw your pension is 55 years old.²

However, this is increasing to 57 in April 2028, when changes to minimum pension age rules come into effect in the UK.²

You won’t be able to cash in your pension earlier than this. This is the case for many pension schemes, and even if you do find a way to take your pension pot out early, you could face an eye-watering tax bill. HMRC may consider this an unauthorised payment, outside of the tax rules, which means a tax charge of 55%.³

Can I withdraw my UK pension with Nest abroad?

Yes, you can access your UK pension with Nest even if you move permanently to another country.⁴ This is partly because it’s an online service, so it gives you access to your account anywhere in the world as long as you have a laptop or phone and an internet connection.

Once you’ve logged in, you can choose how you want to access your pension pot - whether it’s a lump sum, a regular income or a mix of the two. All of these options are available even if you’ve moved outside the UK.

You can also continue to make contributions to your Nest pension if you move abroad, although it may depend on the country you’ve moved to.⁴

Is my Nest pension eligible for transfer to other countries?

Nest pensions can also be transferred to other countries, but only under certain conditions.

The main one is that your new pension provider in the country you’ve moved to must be a qualifying recognised overseas pension scheme (QROPS).⁵

This is a list of government-approved pension schemes which meet certain criteria. You can check the current QROPS list here on the GOV.UK website, but remember that it is updated regularly. This means you’ll need to check back shortly before you plan to start your pension transfer.

There’s also a chance that you might have to pay an overseas transfer charge of 25%, depending where the overseas scheme is based and whether you’ve exceeded your personal allowance for pension transfers.⁶

Overseas pension transfers can be really complex, so it’s strongly recommended to get professional advice before starting the process.

How to withdraw money from your Nest pension

Now, let’s take a look at the actual steps involved in withdrawing money from your Nest pension. The easiest way to do it is online, but there’s also an option to call the Nest customer service team for assistance.

Here’s what you need to do:²

1. Login to your Nest account online
2. Select ‘Take your money out’ from the menu at the top
3. Double-check your personal details are correct, including your name, address and National Insurance (NI) number
4. Read the statements underneath your details and answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to each. This helps Nest to calculate any income tax that may be payable on your withdrawal
5. If you’ve not taken more than £268,275 as tax-free lump sums from your pension (or have protection of your tax-free allowance from HMRC) - you’ll need to answer ‘Yes’ at this particular question and contact Nest by phone to continue
6. If not, you can continue online and select ‘Your options for taking money out’ of Nest
7. Select ‘View your self-managed options’. At this stage, you’ll be prompted to seek advice from the Pension Wise service
8. Once you’ve received advice and you’re absolutely sure, select ‘Take all your pot’ and follow the instructions to confirm

At this stage, you’ll receive all of your money and your Nest account will close.

You can also call Nest on 0300 020 0090 to discuss or make a withdrawal.²

Things to consider

Before withdrawing your pension pot from Nest, there are a few key things to consider:

• Whether you’ll have enough regular income in retirement if you withdraw your pension as a lump sum
• There are no fees from Nest, but income tax will be due on the amount you withdraw - we’ll look at this in more detail next, but you’ll need to make sure you can afford to pay it
• It can take around 5-10 working days to receive your money from Nest.⁷

Tax considerations of withdrawing from Nest pension

One of the most crucial and unfortunately, complex, parts of managing your pension is getting to grips with the tax implications.

When it comes to withdrawals, 25% of the total will usually be tax-free. You’ll then pay income tax on the remaining 75% - it will be classed as part of your income for the year.²

There’s also a lump sum allowance to take into account. Currently set at £268,275, this is the total amount you can withdraw tax-free across all of the pension schemes you hold.²

So if you’re taking out a large lump sum, this could mean a hefty tax bill. This is why it's so important to seek financial or tax advice to make sure you understand your obligations.

You may also have tax charges to pay when transferring pensions abroad, depending on where your overseas provider is based and whether you’ve exceeded your personal allowance. Again, it’s best to seek advice from an expert.

Save money on pension withdrawals with Wise

After reading this, you should have a better idea of how to withdraw from your Nest pension. The good news is that it's pretty easy to do online, and you can even withdraw or transfer your Nest pension overseas.

This is ideal if you’re planning to retire abroad. But you’ll also need to think about how you’ll manage your money across international borders - without poor exchange rates and high fees eating into your retirement fund.

Wiseoffers the ideal solution for UK expats and retirees living abroad.

You can use your multi-currency Wise account to withdraw from your UK pension while living overseas, and receive your UK state pension too.

With Wise, you can receive your pension in GBP, then convert it to the local currency where you are using the mid-market exchange rate. There’s only a small fee* to convert currency, and you can do everything online.

There’s even a dedicated service for large amount transfers, helping you send pension funds between the UK and overseas securely. And if you’re sending more than £20,000 (or the currency equivalent), you’ll benefit from discounted fees too.

Get started with Wise

Sources used:

1. Nest - taking your money out of Nest
2. Nest - How can I take my money out of Nest at retirement?
3. Money Helper - when can you take money from your pension?
4. Nest - what happens to Nest retirement pot if moving abroad
5. Nest - transferring your money out of Nest
6. GOV.UK - transferring your pension
7. Nest - how to take some of your retirement pot as cash

Sources last checked on date: 12-Jun-2025