James Hay Partnership has told FTAdviser the number of adviser queries to its helpdesk on clients taking pension benefits increased by 117 per cent in the second quarter of 2014, compared with the same quarter 2013, on the back of the Budget announcements.
The platform said that the spike is particularly due to recent changes to the trivial lump sum and small pot rules, as well as the proposed pension freedom changes laid out by the chancellor which are due to come into effect from April next year.
Under the transitional arrangements, individuals can take up to £10,000 from three separate small pots, or trivially commute up to £30,000 worth of pension savings, up from two pots of £2,000 and £18,000 previously.
Freedoms coming into force in 2015 will allow users to access their whole pot however they wish, with marginal tax rates applying on the 75 per cent that is not tax free. Formal access options will include new ‘flexi-access’ drawdown, annuities and lump sums from uncrystallised pots.
Elsewhere, adviser queries on property were up by 58 per cent compared with Q2 in 2013, while queries on death benefits were up 61 per cent from last year. Queries on contributions were up 32 per cent, although transactional protection queries were down by 11 per cent.
The James Hay Partnership platform, which runs a pension and trust technical support help desk for advisers, said that queries on property had a large uplift due in part to recent media focus on specialist investments into self invested personal pensions, compared to the same quarter last year.
Neil MacGillivray, head of technical support at the James Hay Partnership, said: “With regulatory and Budget changes hitting the headlines left, right and centre, investors and advisers are looking at the most appropriate and tax efficient way to take benefits from pensions.
“This is a trend we’ll continue to see as we lead up to April next year. Lamborghini jokes aside, investors need to understand the ins and outs of the various reforms and assess the suitability of the options available to them.
“There is a great deal to consider between now and April. Delaying to start the process is simply not an option.”