Friends Life has written to 1,300 customers who had requested partial pension withdrawals to tell them that the flexi-access drawdown option is no longer going to be offered due to the complexity of its pension back book.
This represents a U-turn on the provider’s pre-pension freedoms intention to offer flexible drawdown to consumers.
A spokeswoman for the group told FTAdviser that since 6 April the focus has been on the processing and payment of full pension encashments, following a high initial and sustained level of calls for this.
“Friends Life does have a complex legacy back book which requires a lot of manual work, so that’s where our focus currently is,” stated the firm, confirming that those who had requested partial withdrawal have been written to with an explanation of the other options available to them.
The provider completed its merger with Aviva following the at-retirement reforms and the spokeswoman was quick to mention that the larger group is offering full and partial drawdown options, with plans to extend these to Friends Life customers in due course.
peter.walker@ft.com
