Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of people in each of the last five financial years who crystalised their pension assets and had total pension pots in threshold bands of (a) £1.073 million and above, but below £1.25 million, (b) £1.25 million and above, but below £1.5 million, (c) £1.5 million and above, but below £1.75 million, (d) £1.75 million and above, but below £2 million and (e) £2 million and above; and for each of the threshold bands given, how many people were assumed for the purposes of any revenue forecasts, whether made by the Office for Budget Responsibility or by HMRC, to have crystalised their pension assets in the years covered by those forecasts.

This question was answered on 24th October 2023
On 15 March the government introduced legislation to remove the LTA charge from 6 April 2023, prior to the full abolition of the LTA from 6 April 2024. By removing the lifetime limit on tax-relievable pension savings and improving the financial incentives of work, this policy ensures that individuals will not be disincentivised from remaining in work by pension tax limits. It therefore supports government efforts to increase labour market productivity. The information requested could only be produced at disproportionate cost.

Lifetime Allowance charges are published by HMRC annually up to tax year 2021 to 2022 in Table 8 of the Private pension statistics publication: Private pension statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).