On the go: More than a third of a million people have transferred out of defined benefit pension schemes since 2016-17, according to data from the Pensions Regulator.
A staggering 210,000 people transferred out of DB schemes in 2018-19, amounting to around £34bn.
Indeed, the trajectory since the introduction of pension freedoms in 2015 has been firmly upwards, with 80,000 transfers taking place in 2016-17 worth about £12bn, rising to 100,000 transfers worth £14bn in 2017-18.
The total amount transferred since 2016-17 is a massive £60bn, with a total of 390,000 people leaving their DB pensions.
Royal London’s director of policy Sir Steve Webb, who obtained the statistics from the Pensions Regulator with a freedom of information request, said: “Although the volume of transfers has probably passed its peak, large numbers of people are still interested in seeing whether reshaping their pension benefits would be in their interests.”
He added that remaining in a DB scheme continues to be the right answer for most people, though there may be individual reasons why a different combination of pensions would lead to a better outcome.
“In such cases it is vital that there continues to be a supply of impartial and expert financial advice for those considering making such a big decision,” he said.
Question marks remain over the suitability of many transfers from the circa £2tn DB sector, with the Financial Conduct Authority revealing in June that 1,454 companies had recommended an astonishing 75 per cent of their clients to transfer.
