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Written question asked by Cathy Jamieson (Labour) on Monday, 23 March 2015, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 26 March 2015 (named day). It was answered by Andrea Leadsom (Conservative) on Thursday, 26 March 2015 on behalf of the Treasury.

Annuities

Question

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate the Government has made of the additional cost to the public purse arising from additional (a) social security payments and (b) social care costs of people in receipt of annuity income reassigning that income to a third party in order to receive the value of that annuity as a lump sum.

Answer

From April 2016, the government will change the tax rules to allow people who are already receiving income from an annuity to assign that income to a third party, subject to agreement from their annuity provider. The proceeds of the assignment could then be taken directly or drawn down over a number of years, and would be taxed at their marginal rate, in the same way as those taking their pension after April 2015.

Details of how the costs of this measure have been calculated including the number of annuities that could be assigned can be found in the Budget 2015 Policy Costings document here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/413895/Policy_Costings_18_00.pdf

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
228659
Session
2014-15
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Costs Annuities
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk