A final salary pension is a totally different animal to a personal pension, even if the end goal of providing income for your retirement is exactly the same. The rules that surround them, the level of flexibility and ownership on offer and, crucially, who is taking the investment risk are all different.

Perhaps suprisingly, the specific purpose of the state pension isn't officially described. It is generally accepted, however, that it has a dual purpose to both alleviate poverty in retirement (with means-tested pension credit also available as a top up), and to provide a foundation income that you can build on with your own pension / savings or other income means.

Pension release means taking money early from your pension. You might also have come across the phrase pension access or pension unlocking; it means exactyl the same thing.