Some details and a comment by Gemma Tetlow (IFS)
There have been two major sets of reforms announced to pensions in the UK recently:
- The first set (which were announced last March and came into effect on 6 April 2015) abolished the requirement to annuitise funds held in DC pensions – affecting all those who had saved in a DC pension and not yet started to draw their pension income. The legislative change was first announced in the March 2014 Budget (https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/budget-2014). The actual Act of Parliament that brought the changes into effect was the Taxation of Pensions Act 2014 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2014/30/contents/enacted/data.htm).
- The second set (announced in this year’s Budget on 18th March) will for the first time allow people who have already bought annuities to sell these on to someone else. This is supposed to come into effect from 6 April 2016 and would affect anyone who has already purchased an annuity.
Gemma Tetlow (Institute for Fiscal Studies) provided some comments on the effects of the new rules: “Swimming against the tide? Increasing flexibility to withdraw money from private pensions in the UK”