About RetirementExpert

RetirementExpert.co.uk is an independent UK guide to retirement decisions. We publish plain-English explainers, calculators and checklists on the State Pension, pension drawdown, equity release, retirement tax, and the housing and care decisions that come with later life.

Why this site exists

Retirement in the UK is genuinely complicated. The full new State Pension is £241.30 a week. The Lump Sum Allowance is £268,275. Pension Credit lifts roughly two million pensioners above the poverty line, and yet a third of those eligible never claim it. Equity release is on its fifth iteration of consumer-protection rules and most people still confuse it with home-reversion plans from the 1990s. None of this is a secret - but the answers are spread across GOV.UK, MoneyHelper, the FCA, the DWP and a thousand provider-marketing pages, none written for someone trying to make a single decision at the kitchen table.

We started this site because we kept watching family members and friends - clever, capable people - get charged for advice on questions that have a simple, free answer if you can find the right source. The aim here is narrower than a financial-advice firm and broader than a single government page: read the rules, find the primary source, write it in plain English, and show the maths. Nothing on this site is a personal recommendation, but it is, we hope, enough information to know whether you need one.

How we work

Every article on the site is tied to primary sources: GOV.UK, HMRC's Pensions Tax Manual, MoneyHelper, the FCA, the DWP, the ONS, and the House of Commons Library briefings. We update the figures each tax year and revisit larger guides whenever the rules change. Where a number is published by more than one body and they disagree, we link both. Where there is a real grey area - UFPLS sequencing, the post-April-2027 IHT changes, the State Pension uprating fight - we say so.

What we are - and what we are not

We are publishers. We are not regulated financial advisers, and nothing on this site is a personal recommendation. Where you need advice on a specific decision - especially equity release, defined benefit transfers or large drawdown choices - we recommend speaking to a regulated adviser authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority.

How we make money

The site is funded by display advertising and, in some sections, by clearly marked affiliate partnerships with regulated firms. Editorial content is written independently of advertisers. If we link to a partner we tell you.

Who writes for us

Content is researched and written by our editorial team and reviewed against primary sources (GOV.UK, HMRC, MoneyHelper, FCA, ONS). Where appropriate, individual articles will name the author and reviewer.

Get in touch

See our contact page. We welcome corrections.