New rules from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have been labelled a ‘recipe for pensions serfdom’ instead of pensions freedom by financial firm Scottish Friendly Society.
The DWP has issued regulations suggesting that it would assess people’s pension decisions when it comes to assessing their entitlement to benefits.
“The Government rhetoric about pensions freedom has taken a big hit,” said Neil Lovatt, director at Scottish Friendly. “The ‘Deprivation of Capital’ rule now being applied to pensions means that if you use pension “freedom” and simply spend your retirement fund, give it away or lose all of your money and end up needing to rely on the state for support, you will only be allowed to do so if the DWP agrees with your financial decisions.
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