Taking cash from your Investment Builder pot

Cash payments, otherwise known as Uncrystallised Funds Pension Lump Sums (UFPLS), are a flexible way of taking money from your Investment Builder pot.

You can take up to four cash payments from your pot each calendar year and leave the rest invested. This means you can access your savings before you retire, and you don’t have to take them at the same time you take your Retirement Income Builder benefits or transfer out of USS to access them.

You can then continue to pay into your pot whilst you’re an active USS member, but not yet retired. So your savings could continue to grow*.

• You can take cash payments anytime from age 55 (rising to 57 in 2028), before or after you retire.
• If you’re under age 75, you must have enough Lifetime Allowance left to cover the whole of your cash payment. More eligibility criteria can be found in our Taking cash from your Investment Builder pot (UFPLS) factsheet.

• You can choose how much you want to take from your Investment Builder pot and when you want to take it (note that minimum amounts apply).
• Each time you take a payment, 25% is usually tax free and the rest is taxed accordingly as income.
• There are no charges for cash payments with USS.

• Taking cash payments will trigger the Money Purchase Annual Allowance (MPAA), which limits the amount both you and/or your employer can save into any DC scheme each year before paying tax. The MPAA is currently £4,000 and once you’ve taken a cash payment, from USS or any other DC scheme, the limit will apply for life.
• You may also slip into a higher tax band, depending on any other income you receive and the size of the cash payment you take.
• You’ll initially pay emergency tax on the cash you take, which may need to be corrected through self-assessment.