Turning savings into savings.
We now know many people are using the right to access their pensions mainly to wrest control of their savings from the pensions industry.
How else to account for research showing a third of people have transferred pension savings into a personal bank account?
Life after pension choices * should make the industry and its regulators think hard about service and reputation.
The new right is popular. But turning long-term savings into short-term savings at a time of ultra-low interest rates may not be a great idea. Also the research shows many people facing unexpected tax and welfare losses and most having no plan for funding future care needs.
In the interests of consumers and its own, the industry many are pleased to escape must urgently take account of the report recommendations:
* Citizens Advice published 25/08/16. Findings are based on a ComRes survey of 501 British adults aged 55+ who accessed their DC pensions after April 2015. Fieldwork was carried out between 17th March and 1st April 2016. Full data tables are available via www.comres.co.uk.