Stakeholder: What you get & when
With a stakeholder pension, you are allowed to start taking your benefits at anytime between the ages of 50 & 75. Furthermore, you do not have to stop work in order to start taking your pension, though you would be well advised to keep your contributions going and delaying your pension income for as long as possible. Retiring at fifty might sound tempting, but building up enough money to provide a decent retirement income might prove very difficult for most people.
Tax free lump sum
You are allowed to take up to 25% of your pension as a tax-free lump sum at retirement, but doing so will mean only 75% of the fund is left to provide regular pension income after you've retired. In effect then, you are allowed to exchange up to 25% of your pension fund for a tax-free lump sum at retirement
The rest of the fund must be used to provide an income in retirement through the purchase of an annuity.