Cash in Annuity
Published / Last Updated on 11/02/2015
Video looks at the consultation to allow people to cash in their pension annuity which may become law soon.
Transcript:
“Hello there. An introduction to a subject for you: cashing in your annuity, cash for annuity, selling your annuity. Can you do that? For non-pension related annuities you may be able to sell on your annuity: if it's a life annuity or something like that. But at the time of shooting video: its February 2015, we are just a couple of months away from the new pensions flexibility laws that are starting.
[And] concerns have been raised both by Steve Webb, the pensions Minister and by people in general to say:
- “I’m locked into an annuity”
- “I’ve got an annuity where I’m not even married but I had to have a spouse's benefit built into my annuity because it was a company pension scheme and it had to provide a spouse's benefit” or
- “It had some old contracting out of SERPS benefits in my annuity and I'm not married” or “My partner has left me, we’ve divorced” or
- “They've passed away”
or whatever it might be and you no longer have a requirement for an annuity or maybe no longer a requirement for annuity with all these different bolts on's for spouses benefits or inflation or whatever it might be and it's: “can I unravel my annuity?” and so I wanted to touch on the subject.
Where Steve Webb, Pensions Minister has raised it and it's been on the agenda now for a couple of months to the point where in January 2015, last month, basically it was confirmed a consultation is now live if for people to be able to consider cashing in their annuity, annuity for cash or cash annuity.
Now it is consultation at the moment, so it is not law but it's a cross-party consultation so all in support of the consultation and then it is being consulted with both the public and obviously members of the pensions and investment industry and it just may be that you may be able to cash in your annuity.
The results of the consultation are expected to be published in May 2015 so this is after the new pension rules have started and then what I would expect is it's just before the election anyway but what I would expect is if there were to be any changes in law where you are allowed to cash in your annuity or in part cashing your annuity to release a cash sum then there I would expect that to possibly become law in April 2016 or possibly 2017.
So we’re a while away yet, we are in consultation period consultation period for cash for your annuity, cashing in your annuity, consultation period ends in May 2015 expect some feedback and potentially new laws where people have control and can cash in their annuity. It may be because they you’ve got poor annuity rates, it may be because you have spouses benefits that you didn't want or need a you were forced to have them and it just may be that you have an opportunity to change the balance release a lump sum from your annuity. Watch this space. Thanks very much for watching.”
