Please read the primary protection certificate notes for more details

Primary protection will be achieved by giving you a higher personal lifetime allowance than the standard lifetime allowance. This is achieved by applying an additional factor to the current standard lifetime allowance at the date the benefits are taken. This is your 'primary protection factor'. So, for example, if your primary protection factor is 2, two times the standard lifetime allowance can be added to the standard lifetime allowance in force at the date you take your benefits.

Your primary protection is the value of your pension rights on 5 April 2006 and you cannot lose it. However, if your pension rights are reduced as a result of the pension rights becoming subject to a pension debit on or after 6 April 2006, the value of your pension rights under primary protection is automatically reduced. You must notify HMRC of the amount of the pension debit and the effective date of the pension sharing order - see HMRC's guidance on 'Protecting pension rights from tax charges'. HMRC will then recalculate your primary protection factor and where applicable, will issue a revised certificate. Where a pension debit reduces your protected pension rights to a value below £1.5 million you will lose primary protection and revert to the standard lifetime allowance.

If you do not take all of your lump sum rights in 2006-07 the amount of your lump sum rights will be increased by indexation. You may take your lump sum rights at one or more benefit crystallisation events, as long as you have not used up 100% of your lifetime allowance - see HMRC's guidance on 'Protecting pension rights from tax charges'.

If there is a zero on the certificate, this means that no tax-free lump sum is payable.

If there is no information about your tax-free lump sum on this certificate then you have no protected lump sum rights under primary protection (because your lump sum rights did not exceed £375,000 on 5 April 2006). In this case your lump sum rights will usually be those permitted under paragraphs 1 to 3 of Schedule 29 Finance Act 2004 (unless you have lump sum rights of more than 25% in the scheme).

Your protection will be valid from 6 April 2006 unless the value of your rights are reduced because of a pension debit. The reduced level of protection will be from the effective date of the pension sharing order and will affect benefit crystallisation events on or after that date.