Module 1 · about 3 hours
The shape of a UK retirement income
Most people do not have “a pension”. They have a State Pension they have not forecast, one or two workplace pots, sometimes a personal pension from a self-employed stretch, cash, and a house they live in. This module separates those things. A home can cut your housing cost. It does not pay a weekly income unless you sell, let, or borrow, and each of those has a bill attached.
You draw your own income map. Teaching portrait: Ruth, 58, living near Motherwell, two part-time jobs, and a defined contribution pot she last opened in 2014.
Module 2 · about 4 hours
State Pension and the National Insurance record
The full new State Pension in 2026/27 is £241.30 a week. The full basic State Pension, for people who reached State Pension age before 6 April 2016, is £184.90 a week. You learn which one you are on, how to get a forecast, and how to read your National Insurance record. Thirty-five qualifying years is the number people repeat. If you were contracted out, the starting amount under the new State Pension can be lower, and the forecast shows a Contracted Out Pension Equivalent. The module shows you that line and tells you not to “buy” gap years until you have checked whether they actually raise the forecast.
State Pension age is 66 and is moving to 67 through the late 2020s. Deferring is covered as a choice with a cost, not as a trick. Pension Credit’s standard minimum guarantee in 2026/27 is £238.00 a week for a single person and £363.25 for a couple. We explain it as a safety net. Spending savings purely to qualify is a decision with consequences, and the course will not coach you through it.
Module 3 · about 4 hours
Workplace pensions and auto-enrolment
For 2026/27 the earnings trigger stays at £10,000. Qualifying earnings run from £6,240 to £50,270. The minimum total contribution is 8% of qualifying earnings, and the employer must pay at least 3%. You can opt out. The module shows what you give up when you do, including employer money, without telling you that staying in is always right.
Defined benefit and defined contribution schemes are taught side by side. A cash equivalent transfer value is explained so you can recognise one. It is not a price we will help you accept. You also use the Pension Tracing Service route on GOV.UK for pots you have lost.
Module 4 · about 4 hours
Personal pensions, SIPPs and tax relief
Relief at source, net pay arrangements and salary sacrifice do not feel the same on a payslip. Scottish taxpayers have an extra step: relief at source adds basic-rate relief automatically, and higher Scottish rates may need a claim through Self Assessment or a tax code. If you have no relevant UK earnings you can still pay in a limited amount, up to the higher of your earnings and £3,600 gross, within the usual age rules. Teaching portrait: Helen, 51, self-employed in Glasgow, paying into a personal pension and unsure what “gross” did to the figure she typed.
Module 5 · about 4 hours
Allowances and the ceilings
The annual allowance for 2026/27 is £60,000 across your schemes. Unused allowance can be carried forward from the three previous years if you were a member of a registered scheme. The taper starts from threshold income of £200,000 and adjusted income of £260,000, and the allowance can fall to £10,000. Once you flexibly access defined contribution savings, the money purchase annual allowance of £10,000 can replace the ordinary allowance for future contributions of that kind.
The lifetime allowance was abolished on 6 April 2024. In its place, the 2026/27 lump sum and death benefit allowance is £1,073,100, and the lump sum allowance that caps tax-free lump sums is £268,275 unless you hold protection. The module is about noticing a ceiling before you trip it. It is not a plan for going over one.
Module 6 · about 5 hours
Taking money from a pension
The normal minimum pension age is 55 and rises to 57 on 6 April 2028. Some schemes have a protected age. You check the scheme booklet rather than assuming. Annuity, flexi-access drawdown and uncrystallised funds pension lump sums are compared on tax, flexibility, and what happens if you die. The often-quoted 25% tax-free lump sum is capped by the lump sum allowance. It is not a fresh 25% of every pot forever.
The first taxable withdrawal is often taxed on an emergency code. The module shows why the payslip looks harsh and where a refund of tax is claimed. Cashing in a whole pot is worked as a number, because people ask, and then left on the table as a choice with a tax bill, not as the punchline.
Module 7 · about 4 hours
The tax year you retire
The personal allowance is £12,570. A full new State Pension at £241.30 a week is about £12,547.60 a year, just under that line in 2026/27. Other income stacks on top. Scottish taxpayers pay Scottish rates on employment, self-employment and pension income. Savings interest and dividends follow the UK rates. The adult ISA allowance for 2026/27 is £20,000 across cash and stocks and shares together. The module shows two orders — pension first, ISA first — with the same fictional household, so you can see the tax difference. It does not crown a winner for you.
Module 8 · about 4 hours
Later life, care, and the edge of this course
In Scotland, people assessed as needing it can receive free personal care and free nursing care. That is not the same as having the care home bill paid, and it is not the same system as England’s means test. Attendance Allowance is a UK-wide benefit and is not means-tested; the course uses the current GOV.UK rates rather than a remembered number. Wills and powers of attorney are pointed at, including continuing and welfare powers of attorney in Scotland. We do not draft them.
You finish by writing the adviser brief: what you have, what you do not understand, and what you will not be rushed into. The scam section covers unexpected “pension review” calls, pressure to move a defined benefit scheme, and anyone who wants remote access to your laptop.