£17.5bn pension freedom figure 'fails to reflect big picture'

The latest government figures show 500,000 flexible payments were made to 222,000 people in the first quarter of 2018 - the highest number of payments to the most people since the freedoms were introduced in April 2015. The average withdrawal per person was £7,644 - up slightly from the previous quarter, where the average was £7,595. Just Group communications director Stephen Lowe suggested, however, the findings were not an accurate representation of whole story. "These are a very specific set of figures that don't reflect the bigger picture," he argued. "They only cover taxable mone...