Scottish Widows has launched Drip-feed Drawdown, a phased retirement income system to make retirement savings ‘last longer.’

The new feature is available through its Retirement Account and gives customers a tax-optimised, flexible way to manage and control their withdrawals.

Since the introduction of Pension Freedoms, more people are choosing to stay invested during retirement and withdraw money using income drawdown, says the company.

Through Drip-feed Drawdown, Scottish Widows aims to support advisers by making it easier and more tax efficient for them to manage their clients’ phased retirement and tax position.

A number of steps have been taken to reduce administration overheads for advisers including automated regular crystallisation and disinvestments.

Drip-feed Drawdown also recognises the need for liquidity within Retirement Account to support payments. This is generated through an automatic feature which checks if there is sufficient cash available. If there is not, it automatically disinvests from available Scottish Widows funds to enable this to happen.

Withdrawal payments can be made monthly, quarterly, bi-annually or annually. There is no charge or minimum amount that can be paid out regularly. Phone support is also available and there is a signatureless application route for all business.

Catherine Stewart, head of individual propositions at Scottish Widows said: “The integrated flexible payments option and tax-optimising ability makes it easier for advisers to offer a long-term, sustainable withdrawal strategy that fits with each client’s personal circumstances.”