On October 18, 2016, the UK Government announced that it would not be taking forward its plans to create a secondary market for consumers to sell their annuity income. The market was to extend the recently introduced pension freedoms and flexibilities to individuals, who retired prior to April 2015. In December 2015, the Government announced that tax changes would come into effect from April 2017, which would allow individuals to receive all of the proceeds following the sale of an annuity as a taxable lump sum, arrange for the buyer to pay all of the proceeds into a flexi-access drawdown fund or arrange for the proceeds to be used to buy a new 'flexible' annuity. In April this year, the UK Government and the FCA consulted on the proposed regulatory framework for the secondary annuities market. The UK Government's view is that a balance between creating conditions for a competitive market with multiple buyers and sellers of annuities combined with sufficient consumer protections could not be achieved.
The press release is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-cancels-plans-to-create-a-market-for-secondary-annuities , HM Treasury's consultation is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/creating-a-secondary-market-for-annuities-secondary-legislation/consultation-creating-a-secondary-market-for-annuities-secondary-Legislation and the FCA's consultation paper is available at: https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/consultation/cp16-12.pdf.
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