HMRC has issued its pension freedoms statistics for the first three months of 2017. The data shows that UK consumers withdrew £1.59 billion in the first quarter, and a total of £10.8 billion from pensions during the first two years of the pension freedoms.
The average withdrawal per person continues to fall and now stands at £9,034 – less than half the average withdrawal in Q2 2015. Tom Selby, senior analyst at AJ Bell, said: ‘The pension freedoms have clearly been hugely popular. Given industry reporting was optional in 2015/16, it’s likely the actual figure is significantly higher.
‘It is interesting to note that the average withdrawal per person continues to trend downwards. Hopefully this is indicative of savers managing their retirement incomes sensibly and making withdrawals at levels that will be sustainable over the long term.’
Inheritance boost
Some good news for sons and daughters: according to research from over-55s retirement specialist Key Retirement, parents want to give away an average of £15,000 as early inheritance gifts to help their children financially now rather than making them wait.
Dean Mirfin, technical director at Key Retirement, said: ‘The financial squeeze on younger generations and the struggle they face in saving for homes and paying off student debt are major problems. It is clear parents and grandparents want to help and are already doing a lot to make gifts with more than half planning major handouts. The research shows high awareness of the use of equity release to fund gifts. More than two thirds were aware that they can release equity from their homes to help their loved ones.’
Fraud
Research from Equifax reveals that 61 per cent of Brits underestimate the financial cost of fraud, valuing the impact at less than £1 billion. More than half estimate the cost to be £500 million or below, well below the £1.1 billion level published in the latest KPMG Fraud Barometer.
The survey, conducted by YouGov, found 60 per cent of the British population are concerned about personally experiencing fraud, yet almost a quarter are unable to identify where to locate information to help protect themselves from this crime.
Consumers out of pocket
MoneySavingExpert.com has found a major flaw in Section 75 protection which means that claims by shoppers are being rejected by credit card firms because the retailer they bought from used a third-party payment processing firm to collect their payment.
Under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, a credit card provider is jointly liable with the retailer for anything bought using the card that subsequently goes wrong – such as non-delivery or faults. This strong legal protection leads many people to pay for major purchases on a credit card so they’re covered if the worst happens.
But, as part of a joint investigation with ITV’s Good Morning Britain, MoneySavingExpert.com has spoken to a number of people who’ve been rejected from seemingly valid claims and in some cases left thousands of pounds out of pocket.
And Spectator Money‘s personal favourite…
We are a nation of secret snackers, with almost half of us admitting to snacking in the office. According to IronmongeryDirect, one in five people admit to lying about what they eat at work to their partner, and 34 per cent say they take a healthy snack to work only to substitute it for an indulgent treat instead.
And what’s the workplace snack of choice? The bacon sandwich. The research doesn’t specify but we reckon a bacon butty with lashings of ketchup is the way to go. What do you think?
Helen Nugent is Online Money Editor of The Spectator
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