Hi,

I thought I would take a shot at overwintering some chillies but I didn't really do any research. They have all survived and new growth is starting to peak out. However I have just done a bit of reading on google and found out I should have pruned them right back last year.

Should I do that now? How far back should I cut them? I can post some photos tomorrow if that helps.

Thanks,
Sam

I would NOT prune.

I NEVER prune my hot peppers!

Once, I over-wintered a hot pepper, and a lot of the top died back... it was coming on gang-busters from below, so... I pruned back the old growth...
killed it.

If you have new growth... enjoy it. when you set the plant(s) out in the garden, the new growth should start producing peppers for you waaaay faster than new plants.

I have pruned mine but only as size control.

I Googled "why prune chili peppers" and found two reasons: first, to remove branches that don't have ripening fruits at the end of the season (because they assume your pepper is about to die), and second, topping to encourage bushiness.