Frequently asked questions

The amount you should pay into your pension depends on your circumstances and priorities, but please bear in mind that your employer may set a minimum contribution level. You will probably have to maintain that level of contribution in order to receive pension contributions into your pension from your employer. You can find more information about pension contributions on the 'When you become a member' page.

To help you get an idea of how much income you will need in retirement, you can use the following tools:

Shape my Future helps you think about the lifestyle you might like to have in the future, what your retirement income might be, how much the lifestyle you want could cost; and plan how you might make it happen.

The Mid-Life MOT app provides a free check-up of your wealth, work, and wellbeing. Our Mid-Life MOT app is a small investment of your time, but it could make a big difference.

One of the ways you can fund your retirement is by investing some money in a pension, which can:

• Supplement your State Pension
• Potentially give you greater financial security during your retirement
• Give you a tax-free lump sum when you take your retirement benefits

A pension is a good way to invest for your retirement. You make payments into your pension and your employer will contribute too, subject to eligibility criteria. The government chips in with tax-relief, which also boosts your pension savings.

Even if you receive a State Pension (and any other government benefits, if you're entitled to them), it's important to bear in mind that it might not be enough to fund the lifestyle that you want. You need to feel confident you're going to have enough money to provide you with a reasonable income during your retirement.

The more you can invest during your working years, the better standard of living you're likely to have when you retire. So, the earlier you start paying into your pension, the better. By doing this, you'll be able to invest more money over a longer period of time and your pension savings will have longer to grow. Just be aware that the value of your investment in your pension can go down as well as up and may be worth less than the amount paid in.

Your money is invested in funds when you pay it into a pension. When your money goes into funds, Aviva pools your money with that of other investors and invests it with the aim of growing your pension savings. Pooled funds are a way of putting sums of money from many people into a large fund spread across many investments. Funds are managed by investment professionals. Investing this way can be easier and less risky than buying shares directly, for example.

With many pensions you can usually choose which funds to put your money into. There are many different types of funds, giving you plenty of options to choose from. If you're not sure which one(s) to pick, a financial adviser will be able to make recommendations for you. If you don’t make an active investment choice your payments will be invested in the default investment option that has been chosen for your pension.

Different funds take different levels of risk. A lower risk fund might aim for steady growth over a long period of time with a lower risk of losing money. A higher risk fund will usually be aiming for higher long-term growth but there is also a greater risk of losing money.

The types of assets that a fund invests in are an important factor in the returns you’re likely to get and the amount of risk that you’re taking. A higher risk fund might invest in shares of companies in either the UK or overseas which have the potential to provide good long-term returns, but which are also likely to see large ups and downs in value. A lower risk fund might invest in fixed income assets, and therefore government bonds. These assets are regarded as lower risk assets than company shares and tend to perform better when the economy isn't doing as well. However, as with all investments, your money is at risk.

Aviva will send you an annual pension fund statement. This statement shows you how much you've invested to date, and the current value of your pension savings.

You can also monitor and manage your pension online at any time by logging into your online account.

Help is always at hand if you have any questions about your pension, or if you want to make any changes to it. You can contact your employer, Aviva or a financial adviser using the contact details on this site. If you want to manage your pension yourself, you can do it online by logging into your online account.

If you already have another pension plan (perhaps from a previous employer), you may be able to:

• continue paying into your existing pension as well as into your company pension
• leave your existing pension where it is and make all future payments into your company pension
• transfer your existing pension pot to your company pension.

The choice is yours. There’s no guarantee you’ll be better off by transferring. If you do think transferring your existing pension is an option for you, we recommend you seek independent financial advice to make sure that you won't be losing any valuable benefits or guarantees that your existing scheme may provide. In some cases you may be required to obtain advice for which a fee will be charged, before proceeding. 

The minimum amount you can pay into an Aviva ISA is:

• £25 a month
• £250 per year (as a single lump payment)

The maximum amount is £20,000 for the 2025/2026 tax year. The amount can be split between as many Cash ISAs (including Help to buy), Stocks and Shares ISAs and  Innovative Finance ISAs as you like and one Lifetime ISA, in any combination (subject to a maximum of £4,000 for the Lifetime ISA). 

Innovative Finance ISAs, Help to Buy ISAs and Lifetime ISAs are not products offered by Aviva.

Yes, if you meet the minimum and maximum amounts, you can change the amount you pay at any time. You can also stop and restart payments as you wish.

There are no charges for altering payments.

You can no longer open a Help to Buy ISA, but if you already have one you can pay into both a Cash ISA and a Help to Buy ISA in the same tax year.

For further details, please visit Help to Buy ISA - GOV.UK

You can find out how your investment funds are performing by logging in and accessing your online account.

You must be aged 18 or over to open a Cash ISA or Stocks and Shares ISA.

You can open an Aviva ISA if:

• You’re a permanent resident in the UK or you or your spouse or civil partner work overseas for the UK Government,
• You haven’t exceeded your annual ISA allowance this tax year,

You need to be a UK resident to make payments. This means, if you move abroad, your ISA will remain open, but you won’t be able to pay money in.

Yes. You can either transfer:

• All of a current tax year’s ISA.
• Some or all of a previous tax year’s ISA.

You should check with your current provider before transferring in case there are any charges.

For Stocks and Shares ISAs, transfers can be made by cash or by re-registration. Re-registration means that you don’t need to sell your investments before transferring them to Aviva. For this to be possible, the investments need to be available on My Money and your ISA manager needs to support re-registration. If this isn’t possible, you’ll need to sell the assets and transfer cash. Please remember, you could miss out on potential market growth whilst the transfer is taking place.

Yes, you can request a withdrawal by contacting the Aviva Customer Services team. It will usually be paid out in five working days.

For withdrawals from a Stocks and Shares ISA you’ll need to choose which funds to withdraw your money from and make a ‘sell transaction’ from those funds into your cash account.

The minimum withdrawal amounts and the amount that will need to remain in your account to keep your account open are:

The minimum regular payment is £25 a month or £250 a year and the minimum single payment is £250.

There is no limit on the amount that can be paid in.

Funds, company shares and other investments

Anyone over the age of 18 and who is exclusively a UK tax resident and British citizen.

Yes, you can request a withdrawal by contacting the Aviva Customer Services team. It will usually be paid out in five working days.

You’ll need to choose which funds to withdraw your money from and make a ‘sell transaction’ from those funds into your cash account.

The minimum withdrawal amount for the Investment Account is £100.  In order to keep your account open you must have a balance of at least £250.

No. You can make withdrawals but there are no tax benefits available. There could be Capital Gains Tax (CGT) to pay at some time in the future depending on your personal circumstances. Any CGT payable will relate to the tax year in which the gain is made and will be handled in your self-assessment tax return for that year.

If you exceed the ISA limit within the tax year, the Investment Account can be a useful facility to put in any additional investments.

You can pay into the Investment Account either through your employer’s payroll or through your own bank or building society account or both. You can make regular and/or single payments as you wish.

All investments are bought and sold through a cash account which is automatically set up when you open an Investment Account in My Money. All investments are bought and sold through this account. 

Yes.

Switching funds involves selling the existing investment and buying the new investment. The timings will depend on fund management processes.

You can normally switch between investment funds at any time. In exceptional circumstances, this could be delayed. Please see the Terms and conditions for more information.

If you switch between investment funds in an Investment Account, you may have to pay capital gains tax on any profit that you have made in the fund that is sold.

You may be able to transfer your existing assets by re-registering them with Aviva. Please call us for more information.

Yes, your investments can be transferred out of your Investment Account. We will transfer either by re-registration or a cash transfer to the new provider. Please call us.