The latest pension freedom figures1 report that the freedoms have enjoyed a record year of activity.
Tax year 2018/19 saw a record number of individuals (539,000), taking a record number of payments (2.44 million payments), withdrawing a record amount of money (£8.18 billion).
The total value of flexible payments since the freedoms were introduced in April 2015 now exceeds £25 billion, across more than 1.1 million individuals.
Commenting, Alistair McQueen, Head of Savings & Retirement at Aviva said:
“The pension freedoms are a pensions good news story. Savers love the freedoms, and their popularity continues to grow. 164,000 more people took advantage of the freedoms in 2018/19 (539,000) than in 2017/18 (375,000) – a growth of 44%.
Looking beneath the headline figures it is also important to note that there has been no unrestrained dash for cash. The average amount withdrawn by individuals hit a record low of c£15,000 in 2018/19, suggesting little evidence of savers rushing to blow their savings on Lamborghinis.
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1 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/flexible-payments-from-pensions
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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Fiona Whytock
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