Govt extends trivial commutation to personal pensions

Today the Treasury announced it will allow people aged 60 or above with small pension pots of £2,000 or less to withdraw a maximum of two of these small pots over a lifetime. Current trivial commutation rules prevent people withdrawing personal pots of £2,000 or less as lump sums because it would be too easy to set up thousands of small pots and withdraw all of the cash at the same time, Tom McPhail, head of pensions research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said. Trivial commutation of sums below £2,000 was only permitted for small occupational pension pots, which, by virtue of needing an emp...