This is not so much Survive France as Survive UK. Ever the optimist, ever the Pollyanna I am hoping one of you can offer suggestions of how to resolve my dilemma. Better still. Sort it all out for me. !! 
We are desperate for funds to make our ancient house in Amboise safe. Walking across the floors is like riding the waves. 
The Pru says: Our old pension does not allow drawdown; it may be possible to transfer the pension to another provider who may allow drawdown but the Pru says not without a financial adviser. How much would that cost? Wonder if No Win No Fee is possible.
Your problem if you are French residents is that there are few financial advisers who are passported to advise non-residents on UK products. I donāt know of any now, but others might.
Youāll get the necessary āadviceā when you find a company you would like to transfer to. The big one handling most seems to be L&G. We are probably going with a mutual like Royal London for the same reasons as you, old inflexible plans.
thank you Jane
Thank you Corona. Very helpful.
Forgot to ask. Any idea of costs involved?
Not currently but they are happy to receive your money fund, obviously. Otherwise its an IFA with usually a fixed fee.
This is true but the main thing is that there are almost zero UK pension providers who will open new financial business with a UK non-resident.
As a consequence @Pamela_Shields is very unlikely to be able to invest her pension fund into a UK flexi drawdown product, nor buy a UK annuity. I have have found this out through my own bitter experience.
It turned out that the only sensible option is to withdraw 100% of your pension fund which, initially, HMRC will tax 75% of at emergency rate (the first 25% is tax free in the UK). You then bring the funds to France where you have to pay two sets of tax which might total 14-15%. You also claim back the UK tax via the France Form Individual (the process of which has been outlined elsewhere in this forum). You can then invest your fund in whatever investment product you choose in France.
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Surely organising all thisā¦ and getting back the Tax one has paidā¦ will all take timeā¦ and the funds are needed ānowā for emergency work on the French property (as I understand things).
just wondering whether there is another option for herā¦
The back office software used in the industry is pretty quick but I believe there is a 14 day cooling off period. I would just go for it, if you have UK friends maybe you can use their address if needed.
Nobody in this forum would ever advise you to do anything that might be construed as fraudulent, but that does seem the simplest solution. 
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Youāre obviously a Brit, trying to be more French than the French 
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Sorry. Whatās an IFA? Plus my husband insists we have to be a UK resident. Weāre not.
Thank you for your interest Stellaā¦
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I know some French Banks are/were offering loans (at reduced rates) for home improvements ā¦ might this be an angleā¦ get the money, do the work and pay off the Loan when the Pru funds are sorted???
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An Independant financial adviser.
Itās an independent financial adviser.
Has the Pru said you need to be UK resident to
cash the whole thing in, as suggested by Badger? Certainly Aegon and Royal London let you do this, as French residents.
Itāll take a while to get the UK emergency tax refunded (more than 6 months judging from the experience of a friend who did it recently) but at least you would have fairly fast access to the bulk of the funds.
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Its years since I did this for my BIL and we have suffered āBā in between but as Helenochka said should possible.
My stripey jumper, beret and onions are on order.
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Nāoublie pas ton vĆ©lo 
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