Webb suggests pensioners could cash in on annuities

Retirees who had already purchased an annuity may be able to benefit from the pension freedoms announced at last year's Budget by selling theirs to the highest bidder.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is drawing up plans to enable pensioners to sell their annual lifetime incomes in return for a lump sum at any time after they have retired, pensions minister Steve Webb (pictured) told the Telegraph. Last March, Chancellor George Osborne announced radical reforms to pensions which effectively removed the need to buy an annuity at retirement. But there has been uncertainty about the fates of those who had already bought an income. Webb told the newspaper: "I want to see people trusted with their own money wherever possible. I have already hea...