Pension freedoms: £4.7bn paid out in first six months

ABI reveals latest data

Pension savers have accessed almost £5bn from their pots following the widespread retirement reforms introduced in April as they "shop around" for the best deals, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

Smaller pots are generally being taken as cash, the 250-member body said, while larger pots are still being used to access retirement income, with £5bn invested to buy some 85,000 regular income products - either annuities or income drawdown. Annuity sales saw their first quarter-on-quarter increase for more than three years, with some £1.17bn worth of sales in Q3 2015 compared with £990m last quarter. The ABI's total sales figures contradict those published by HMRC last month, which suggested just £2.7bn had been accessed in the six months since April, though HMRC admitted its data w...