Two thirds of people over the age of 55 are confused by the pension reforms that were introduced two years ago. Most savers still do not understand what the “pension freedoms” actually mean to them. A report by the Prudential insurance group claims there is much confusion, and 77% of the people they questioned said they wanted to see a halt to any more changes in the near future.
Sky News reports –
“The government under David Cameron and George Osborne removed limits on buying and selling pension annuities as part of the spring budget in 2015, allowing people to cash in their pension pots for a lump sum rather than receive regular payments during retirement… But Prudential’s report suggests the changes have led to increased confusion, particularly around the issue of tax bills… It had been expected that the changes would mean a total of £900m being paid to HMRC between April 2015 and the end of 2016, but in fact this figure has ballooned to an expected £2.6bn.”