Readers' forum: Protect and survive?

Can readers provide some comprehensible quick and generic advice on “protection” in the context of the pensions lifetime allowance – or is this something for which individual (and probably expensive) advice from an expert is always necessary? Until now I have had only one client who needed protection on an earlier reduction in the allowance and it was easy to see how it worked. The client’s fund was already larger than the new lower figure so he applied for protection and stopped contributing.

Now I have several clients with funds below £1m but who are likely to exceed £1m by the time they retire partly through investment growth (which they do not want to stop) and partly through further contributions (which they could stop if that is a good idea). What do they need to do and when?

For example a 56-year-old...