The Registered Pension Schemes (Transfer of Sums and Assets) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2011
From 6th April 2011, section 65 of, and Schedule 16 to, the Finance Act 2011 (“FA 2011”) amend Part 4 (pension schemes etc) of the Finance Act 2004 (“FA 2004”) to remove certain tax rules that require members of registered pension schemes to secure an income, usually by buying an annuity, by age 75. The amendments replace the concepts of an ‘unsecured pension’ and an ‘alternatively secured pension’ with a ‘drawdown pension’ and provide that individuals able to demonstrate that they have a secure pension income for life will have full access (“flexible drawdown”) to their drawdown funds without any annual cap. These Regulations make consequential and other minor amendments to regulation 12 of the Registered Pension Schemes (Transfer of Sums and Assets) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/499; “the principal Regulations”).