Average pension freedom withdrawals at record lows

Savers behaving responsibly

Jenna Brown
clock • 3 min read

Average pension freedom withdrawals hit a record low of £6,820 between October and December last year – a drop of almost 40% since April 2016, latest official figures show.

Statistics from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) revealed 327,000 people made 828,000 withdrawals totalling £.23bn in the last three months of 2019. Average withdrawals and payments were at record lows, however. The average payment per withdrawal stood at £2,693. A drop of 55% from £5,980 when reporting started in April 2016. Monthly income drawings have now become the norm, according to Hargreaves Lansdown. Senior analyst Nathan Long said: "The swift introduction of flexible pension rules has taken a little time to bed down, but now nearly five years on we're seeing payments falling to...

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