Actuaries warn that millions of people may not have access to the new pension freedoms in April as over half (58 percent) of occupational pension schemes are still undecided about whether they will enable their members to do so, with 15 percent saying they will offer no new flexibilities.

The new rules are due to take effect from April for people with defined contribution pension savings. However, it is up to each pension scheme to decide whether they offer their members the new freedoms. The analysis by Xafinity, one of the UK’s largest pension consultancies, of over 80 pension schemes (which collectively provide pensions benefits to over 250,000 UK employees) also found that, by April, only 5 percent were planning on enabling members to withdraw their pension as a cash lump sum, and only 2 percent were planning on offering the full range of flexibilities through drawdown.

20 percent of schemes said they are planning on providing their members with support in moving their benefits to an alternative scheme if they wanted to access the flexibilities.

Paul Darlow, head of proposition development at Xafinity, said: “Offering additional flexibility brings extra costs to pension schemes as well as additional risk and operational implications. Whilst many pension schemes have an aspiration to provide some flexibilities in the future, most will be unable to do so by April. This leaves millions of people near to retirement with considerable uncertainty – they have the choice between: delaying their retirement; retiring in their existing scheme and missing out on these new flexibilities; or moving their benefits into a new pension scheme in which there may be significant costs / charges.  Our advice is that members approaching retirement with a defined contribution pension should be contacting their pension schemes now to understand their options.  We would also urge pension schemes to communicate proactively regarding the new flexibilities and if / when they will be available.”