The figure is even lower than reported by annuity providers such as Standard Life and Partnership Assurance, who witnessed a 50% drop in sales following the recent Budget changes to pension drawdown arrangements.
Mark Soper, Co-founder, RetireEasy.co.uk, said:
“After much initial confusion following the Budget, retirees are now realising that they can take back control of their finances and decide what pension options work best for them. This has caused many to fall out of favour with annuities due to the lack of freedom these arrangements provide. Instead, it seems retirees are doing for themselves and relying on income from SIPPs and even downsizing their home to free-up equity.”
Other findings from retirees’ plans post-Budget include that 92% of those surveyed own their own home, with almost a quarter (22%) owning a second property. However, 31% plan to downsize their home.
Three quarters (75%) of those surveyed have a private pension and has an average of two ISAs. 46% have a SIPP and 43% have a National Savings account.
Following the recent Queen’s speech, the pension’s debate has been further fuelled by the announcement of new collective defined contribution schemes, and how these will work alongside the new pension drawdown arrangements.
Mr Soper added: “Despite the Government wanting to empower the consumer, there is a rush to deliver a range of new pension regulations when the framework already exists. Rather than reinventing the wheel, maybe the Pensions Regulator needs to apply more regulatory pressure on employee benefit advisers to ensure the best deals are available to companies and their employees.”
