Wealth at Work has launched a cash drawdown service, aimed at employees who want to access their pension savings as cash, but cannot do so through their workplace pension.
The self-invested personal pension scheme is designed to hold defined contribution schemes that transfer from the workplace, or other pension providers, in cash or cash funds.
The firm said that in light of the pension freedoms, employees want to move money from their DC schemes, but many employers and trustees either do not want to facilitate this, or are unable due to not having the systems and flexibilities in place.
Access to pension savings can be on a regular monthly basis, or as ad hoc lump sums, and can be via flexi-access drawdown, or by using uncrystallised lump sums. It is available from the age of 55 and with a minimum transfer in of £1,000.
The service has a fixed fee of £200 to open and transfer in initial funds and a single annual management fee of £100. There are no other fees in the plan.
Jonathan Watts-Lay, director at Wealth at Work, said: “We have always provided a complete package of options for employers and their employees when it comes to retirement savings, so to sit alongside traditional drawdown and annuities, we now have a simple cash facility for those who want it.”
He added that for those employees who cannot do this through their current scheme, the cash drawdown service makes sense.
Earlier today (21 May), FTAdviser revealed that Aviva is planning to launch a range of new ‘third way’ blended pension products over this summer, after analysing the space between annuities and drawdown.
ruth.gillbe@ft.com
