HMRC has revised the guidance on how carry forward annual allowance works for the transitional years 2008–09, 2009–10 and 2010–11.

HMRC advise that they had been asked to look at their interpretation of how the carry forward rules work for the annual allowance for the transitional years mentioned above. As a result of this review the guidance on how carry forward works for these years has been revised. There is no change to the guidance for the carry forward rules outside the transitional years. The relevant pages in the Registered Pension Schemes Manual will be updated as soon as possible.

The revised guidance is reproduced on here.