You can still get free money for your pension… but you need to act fast before Labour closes this generous scheme

The scheme to help boost retirement savings is so absurdly generous that if it wasn’t offered by the government, I’d suspect it was a scam. If you put £80 into your pension, the government will give you £20 for free, if you’re a basic rate taxpayer.

If you are a higher rate taxpayer, you only need to deposit £60 and the Government will give you £40. If you are a higher rate taxpayer, deposit £55 and the Government will give you £45.

As with all good deals, I’m sure it can’t last forever.

So three weeks ago – just hours before Rachel Reeves was due to give her first major speech to Parliament as Chancellor of the Exchequer – I slipped out of the office to call my pension provider and ask them to add a small lump sum to my savings. I wanted to do this just in case it made pension tax relief less generous.

Reeves had been hinting that “tough decisions” would have to be made, a clear warning that tax increases or benefit cuts were on the way.

In the end, it was pensioners who took the hit, with the end of the winter fuel subsidy for all except those receiving pension credit.

I didn’t think it was likely she would reform the pension tax cut in that speech: it’s a huge change that should surely only be made after consultation and in an official budget statement.

But stranger things have happened: she would not be the first Chancellor to shock the financial services industry with a massive and unexpected pension reform.

And, as is often the case when I see a great deal, I didn’t want to miss out by waiting too late.

Now a growing number of pension experts expect Reeves to revisit the pension tax cut in his Budget on 30 October.

Suspicions are heightened partly because Labour has not denied that this is its plan and partly because many agree that the current deal is too good to be true.

Of course, it cannot make any changes, as doing so would not be easy and could have serious consequences for public sector plans in particular.

In the past, finance ministers have considered it, but then backed away because it was not worth the effort. If Reeves goes ahead, the most likely outcome will be a flat rate of pension relief. If he sets the flat rate at a level above 20%, basic-rate taxpayers will get an even more generous deal than they currently enjoy.

But a flat rate would almost certainly leave taxpayers worse off with higher, additional rates.

If you are an additional or higher rate taxpayer and have money you can afford to do without until you access your pension, it may be worth joining me and adding a lump sum to yours too.

Of course, it takes some careful thought. For most of us, putting together a lump sum is no easy task.

There are also limits on how much you can contribute to your pension each year – check with your provider or an adviser to make sure contributing more to your pension is right for you.

You should also be confident that you will have no problem paying a lump sum from your pension now, even if the Chancellor leaves the current system unchanged, as she may well do. There is always the possibility that you will need the money sooner and wish you hadn’t saved it up.

But I counted how many years it would be until I would first be able to access the money (at age 58, which in my case is 18 years). Then I counted back 18 years to remember what was going on in my life at that time (at age 22).

And I’ll tell you one thing: 18 years ago seems like yesterday. I hope that, following the same logic (not very mathematical), when the next 18 years pass in the blink of an eye, you will thank me for having increased my pension now.

My pension provider automatically added 20 percent tax relief to my pension. Kerching.

The remaining 20 per cent will need to be obtained from HMRC. You can do this by completing a tax return or by contacting HMRC and asking them to give you the tax relief.

This is the part I don’t feel like. Last year, a report revealed that up to 56,000 HMRC calls lost connection after waiting for more than an hour. What a disgraceful performance.

I dread to think of the number of tax reliefs that savers have missed out on because they didn’t realise they had to apply to HMRC to receive them or because they stopped waiting on the phone for help. The old adage that “if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is” is absolutely true in the world of personal finance.

But everything falls apart when it comes to the current system of pension tax relief. Enjoy it while you can…

In the run-up to my wedding in a couple of weeks, I’ve been asking people how they manage household finances with their spouse. So far, no two models are the same. Some don’t merge their finances at all, others put everything in one pot and share everything. What works for you? I’d love to hear your advice.

Cruel rules that prevent cancer survivors from going on vacation

It’s only when I’m on holiday that I remember what it feels like to be truly relaxed. Day by day I get so used to the aches and pains of sitting at a desk for hours, the heat on the London Underground or the adrenaline rush of deadlines that I no longer notice them.

Holidays are essential for resetting. That’s why I was infuriated to read a study from Queen’s University Belfast claiming that cancer survivors are cruelly denied travel insurance and other services, or forced to pay significantly higher premiums that make holidays prohibitively expensive.

People who no longer have cancer are forced to forego holidays, often when they need them most. Or they take a huge risk and travel without insurance, because they have to declare their previous cancer diagnosis to insurers.

Have you been in this situation? Contact us. rachel.rickard@mailonsunday.co.uk