Pension Freedoms

In this week's Pensions Buzz, we want to know if you think it is fair that The Pensions Regulator can seize assets from fine dodgers, and how schemes should deal with pension overpayments from contracting-out discrepancies.

HMRC figures published on Friday suggest almost £17.5bn has been flexibly withdrawn since the inception of pension freedoms, but that figure is not reflective of 'the bigger picture', according to one industry expert.

Two men were sentenced to jail after luring 16 victims into transferring nearly £1m of their pensions into a non-existent occupational scheme in an "elaborate" liberation scam.

Savers are not squandering their tax-free lump sums under Freedom and Choice but are taking a more cautious approach to retirement, according to Prudential research.

The Treasury has reaffirmed its decision against rolling out freedoms to the annuity market, arguing it would be impossible to balance consumer protections with a functioning market.

Pension freedoms could add £25bn to the accounting costs of UK companies if no action is taken, a Xafinity Punter Southall study reveals.

Soon-to-be and recent retirees significantly underestimate their longevity, expecting a lower chance of survival to old age compared to official estimates, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

Around one in ten (11%) workers aged over 55 say pension freedoms have encouraged them to save more since the rules came into effect in April 2015, Prudential has found.

Three years after Freedom and Choice, many default funds still have not moved away from targeting annuity purchase. This could have unintended investment risks for members, writes Victoria Ticha

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are to produce a joint strategy on how they will collaborate to regulate the sector over the next decade.