Thousands of pension savers have breached lifetime allowance ‘protections’ in the past 12 years, potentially landing themselves with tax bills running into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

A recently-published court ruling could open HMRC up to new claims from investors who accidentally lose lifetime allowance ‘protection’ by forgetting to stop paying contributions to their schemes.

Shock revelations, brought to light under the Freedom of Information Act, have suggested more than 100,000 pension savers could be hit with six-figure tax bills following tiny uplifts to their pension.

Investment provider and wealth manager Hargreaves Lansdown has called for the Lifetime Allowance to be scrapped as news emerges that it may be causing damage to the NHS by hitting GP numbers.