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Pension withdrawal delays

Journalist: Rachel Mortimer, The Times and Sunday Times

ended 11. March 2025

I am hearing of widespread delays in people accessing their pensions because providers have been ininduated since the Budget with requests. Are your clients experiencing similar delays? 

If there is a risk they cannot access their cash as planned in the remainder of this tax year, what implications can that have for tax planning? 

Thank you 

Rachel 

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Editor
Gabriel McKeown
Political & Economics Writer at Sad Rabbit - Substack Newsletter
At the end of every fiscal year, there tends to be a surge in pension withdrawal requests, which leave providers overwhelmed due to antiquated processes, and considerable bureaucracy, leading to significant delays. A number of users intend to complete an annual portfolio review prior to the budget, given that heightened volatility stemming from policy uncertainty, will have altered underlying asset allocations. The upcoming budget is likely to be fairly unfriendly for investors, and therefore I have seen a trend towards building a cash pile within pensions and even S&S ISAs, due to fears over what will be announced by Chancellor Reeves. Any delays in implementing this portfolio reallocation, due to delays from pension providers, could lead to a significant opportunity cost, especially if tax caps are reduced, or markets respond unfavourably to the budget. A number of our users are considering splitting their pensions across multiple providers to prevent this issue going forward.