What lump sum allowance does fixed protection give?

Fixed protection 2016 gives a lump sum allowance of £312,500 and a lump sum and death benefit allowance of £1,250,000 — 25% and 100% of the £1.25m frozen lifetime allowance. FP2014 gives £375,000 / £1,500,000 and FP2012 gives £450,000 / £1,800,000, against £1.5m and £1.8m respectively.

Can you still hold fixed protection if you restart pension saving?

No. Fixed protection is lost if there is benefit accrual after its cut-off date — broadly any further contributions to a money purchase pot or benefit build-up in a defined benefit scheme. Losing it drops the member back to the standard £268,275 lump sum allowance.

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Fixed protection and the lump sum allowance

A frozen lifetime allowance, bought with a promise of no further accrual. Under the 2024 regime it survives as a higher lump sum allowance — three vintages, three ceilings.

Based on HMRC’s Pensions Tax Manual (PTM176400, PTM171000, PTM172000) and Finance Act 2024 Schedule 9.

6 min read · Last reviewed 19 Jun 2026

Fixed protection was a deal the saver struck with HMRC each time the lifetime allowance was cut: keep the old, higher allowance, in exchange for a promise to stop building up pension benefits. The lifetime allowance itself was abolished from 6 April 2024 — but the protection did not die with it. It now survives as a higher lump sum allowance and a higher lump sum and death benefit allowance.

The rule: three vintages, three frozen ceilings

There were three rounds, one for each cut in the lifetime allowance. Fixed protection 2012 froze it at £1.8m, fixed protection 2014 at £1.5m, and fixed protection 2016 at £1.25m. Under the post-2024 regime each frozen figure is re-expressed as a pair of allowances: the lump sum allowance is 25% of the frozen lifetime allowance, and the lump sum and death benefit allowance is the frozen figure in full.

Fixed-protection lump-sum allowances under the 2024 regime

Standard (no protection): £268,275 LSA · £1,073,100 LSDBA
Fixed protection 2016 — engine-verified: £312,500 LSA · £1,250,000 LSDBA
Fixed protection 2014 — HMRC figures (not engine-computed): £375,000 LSA · £1,500,000 LSDBA
Fixed protection 2012 — HMRC figures (not engine-computed): £450,000 LSA · £1,800,000 LSDBA

Our engine carries the FP2016 ceilings in the tax-year config and resolves them directly, so the £312,500 / £1,250,000 row is reproduced to the penny by the calculation tests. The FP2012 and FP2014 rows follow the same 25% / 100% rule but are not modelled in the engine — they are shown here from HMRC’s manual so the comparison is complete.

The condition that quietly breaks it: benefit accrual

Fixed protection is conditional. It is lost the moment there is benefit accrual after its cut-off date — broadly, any new contribution to a money purchase arrangement, or benefit build-up above the permitted level in a defined benefit scheme. Auto-enrolment is the classic trap: a client who never opts out of a workplace pension can lose a £1.8m protection without ever deciding to. Lose it, and the ceiling drops back to the standard £268,275 — a £181,725 fall in tax-free-cash headroom for an FP2012 holder.

Fixed protection is lost if benefit accrual occurs, if a new arrangement is made other than to accept a permitted transfer, or if an impermissible transfer is made.

HMRC PTM176400, summarised

What to do with it

Confirm the vintage from the protection certificate or the member’s online HMRC record before relying on any figure — the three ceilings are £75,000 apart at the LSA level. Then treat the protected figure as the ceiling the standard calculation starts from: the lump sum allowance calculator and the LSDBA calculator work the standard allowances and the excess charge; with fixed protection, the higher ceiling above simply replaces the standard one they begin from.

PTM176400 (fixed protection) · PTM171000 / PTM172000 (LSA / LSDBA) · FA 2024 Sch 9

Common questions

What lump sum allowance does fixed protection give?: Fixed protection 2016 gives a lump sum allowance of £312,500 and a lump sum and death benefit allowance of £1,250,000 — 25% and 100% of the £1.25m frozen lifetime allowance. FP2014 gives £375,000 / £1,500,000 and FP2012 gives £450,000 / £1,800,000, against £1.5m and £1.8m respectively.
Can you still hold fixed protection if you restart pension saving?: No. Fixed protection is lost if there is benefit accrual after its cut-off date — broadly any further contributions to a money purchase pot or benefit build-up in a defined benefit scheme. Losing it drops the member back to the standard £268,275 lump sum allowance.

Sources & grounding

FP2016 ceilings engine-pinned: applyProtection({ kind: "FP2016" }, getConfig("2026-27")) → protectedLSA £312,500 (31,250,000p), protectedLSDBA £1,250,000 (125,000,000p), from config protectionCeilings.FP2016 (calc-engine/pension/protection.ts; calc-engine/configs/2026-27.json). Reproduced 0p in lump-sum-protections-content.test.ts.
FP2012 (£450,000 LSA / £1,800,000 LSDBA) and FP2014 (£375,000 LSA / £1,500,000 LSDBA) are NOT modelled by the engine (which carries FP2016 only) — stated from HMRC PTM176400 and the fixed-protection LSA amounts in FA 2024 Sch 9; clearly labelled in-body as not engine-computed.
Rule basis: fixed protection freezes the member’s lifetime allowance at the level for its vintage, conditional on no “benefit accrual” after the cut-off (PTM176400, formerly PTM093000); from 6 April 2024 the protected amount is expressed as a higher LSA and LSDBA (F(2)A 2023 / FA 2024 Sch 9). The standard LSA is £268,275 / LSDBA £1,073,100 (PTM171000 / PTM172000).

For planning and illustration purposes only. Verify all inputs against source documents. This explainer does not constitute financial or tax advice.