A retirement planning specialist has suggested the Chancellor was wrong to intimate that £1bn withdrawn from pension funds since the April reforms constitutes a success.
George Osborne yesterday gave the House of Commons the first numbers showing how many people have taken advantage of the freedoms.

Some 60,000 people have made use, with more than £1 billion transferred out of people’s pension funds as a result.

Mr Osborne said this was “a sign that this is a real success”.

However, Old Mutual Wealth retirement planning manager, Adrian Walker, said: “The Chancellor has suggested that more than £1bn withdrawn from pension funds since the April reforms constitutes a success.

“The UK has a problem with saving, not spending, so care needs to be taken when deciding how to measure the success of the pension freedoms.

“I would suggest that a more appropriate measure of success will not come for many years, when those people who have withdrawn money from their pensions are still enjoying the retirement they planned and saved many years for.”

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Mr Osborne said: “Conservative members believe that we should trust people who have worked hard and saved hard with those savings in retirement. These unprecedented pension freedoms have been widely welcomed.

“It is a sign that this is a real success, but we have to make sure that people get the best advice, that the market responds and that companies up their game in helping customers make use of these freedoms. We will be watching these things very carefully.”