Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment the Government has made of the Financial Conduct Authority’s interim report on the Retirement Outcomes Review.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published their interim Retirement Outcomes Review report in July 2017 and plan to publish their final report in 2018.

The government welcomes the FCA’s work in this area ensuring that the market supports consumer choice and consumers have the right information when making decisions on how to manage their retirement income. The government awaits the publication of the final report of the review, and will consider any recommendations carefully.

The government notes the FCA’s interim report and believes it is right that individuals are trusted with their own hard-earned savings and that they should have choice about how to access their pension income rather than being forced to purchase an annuity.

As the FCA’s interim findings show, the majority of pots that are fully withdrawn are smaller (90% worth less than £30,000) and the majority of individuals (94%) have other sources of income in retirement. This does not indicate that people are squandering their savings as a result of the pension freedoms.

The pension freedoms have been very popular: as of October 2017 individuals have accessed over £14.2 billion through over 2.7 million payments.