Annuities

Tom McPhail gives his top five pension risks for 2011

Annuity reform has by and large been welcomed. Helen Morrissey takes a look at how these changes will affect how people access their retirement income and asks if the rise in tax for those in income drawdown on death with bring problems

Now just hold on a minute, has the coalition actually done rather a good job with pension reform so far?

Prudential deputy chief executive Barry O'Dwyer has welcomed the Treasury's new draft rules for retirement options, but warns there may be problems ahead for value guaranteed annuities.

The government has today published details of the changes it intends to introduce to remove the effective requirement to annuities by age 75 from 6 April 2011.

Access to new flexible drawdown pensions will be restricted to people with a lifetime pension income of a minimum of £20,000 a year, the Treasury says.

Third way annuities provider Sun Life Financial of Canada has announced it will close to new business in the UK from 3 December, with 100 job losses across the business.

Age UK Enterprises, the business arm of Age UK, has teamed up with Premier Retirement Services, part of JLT Benefit Solutions, to create an online comparison site for annuities.

After months of historically poor annuity rates, six providers have increased their offers, according to the Hargreaves Lansdown Annuity Index.

The Equitable Life (Payments) Bill passed its second and third readings in the House of Lords yesterday, but not without renewed calls for pre-1992 annuitants to be included in compensation payouts.