Some 327,000 people accessed their retirement savings using pension freedom rules withdrawing £2.4bn in the third quarter of the year, latest figures from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) reveal.
Latest HMRC flexible payment statistics showed a 27% increase in the number of people stripping out cash from their pensions compared to the same quarter of 2018 (258,000 people) and a 21% increase in the value of payments (£2bn in 2018). Overall, since pension freedom was introduced in April 2015 some £30.74bn has been extracted from pension funds. Pension freedom, introduced by then-Chancellor George Osborne, allows people aged 55 to withdraw money from their pension at the normal taxable rate. It effectively halted compulsory annuitisation. 'There are no rules' Canada Life t...
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