About 7 years ago I was employed by a small company. They set up a pension fund for me which I contributed to while I was employed there. When I eventually left the company to study, I found out that the employer had stopped paying contributions for the last 6 months or so (this is a separate issue, but is hardly surprising considering they were in dire financial straits at that point). The value of the pension is currently around £4000. I'm unlikely to contribute to it again as I've just joined another company with their own pension scheme.
If possible, I'd rather get ahold of some of the value of that pension and use it to pay off debts I accrued while studying for my degree, rather than sitting on it for another 36 years before cashing it in. Even if it's a fraction of the amount, it would be more use to me now than way down the line.
Is there any way I can make better use of this low value pension fund?