'Surprise' cancellation of secondary annuity set to disappoint pensioners - Saga UK
Commenting on the government’s decision to cancel plans for a secondary annuity market, Paul Green, director of communications at Saga, said:
“This is a surprising announcement. The initial decision to give people the power to sell their annuity was borne from pension freedoms introduced last year and the desire that all retirees could enjoy them. The cancellation of the secondary annuity market quashes that notion.
“The development of this kind of market was always going to be complex, and we await more detail about the consumer protections that the government felt this market was unable to provide.
“However, there will be many pensioners who will be sorely disappointed – thousands of people who receive minimal income from annuities they were forced to buy would have benefitted from a way to sell their annuity. Indeed, research carried out by Saga found that 58% of people who wanted to sell their annuity were receiving such a small income they could do nothing meaningful with it. It looks now that there will be no way for them to turn that meagre income back into a lump sum.”
