Consumer protection: Words of warning on second-hand annuities

Not so long ago the idea of allowing annuitants to sell their guaranteed retirement income might have been considered radical, perhaps even fanciful. Today we need to get used to the idea which has become a key plank of the government's overhaul of the pensions market and the logical extension of its ‘freedom and choice' agenda. Chancellor George Osborne's consultation on creating a secondary annuity market, which closed on 18 June, stated that "from next year, we will remove the tax restrictions on people seeking to assign their annuity income to firms wishing to purchase it". Fur...