In April, savers in the UK will see the biggest changes to pensions in decades. Unusually for the industry in recent years, this is actually good news but these so-called pension freedoms have arrived very quickly, causing some degree of confusion and an industry which is not quite ready to embrace the revolution.

You will have heard about savers’ future rights to take as much as they want, when they want, from their private pension pots in the form of cash lump sums. Senior doctors aged over 55 – and crucially, their spouses – will no longer need to buy an annuity to provide income until they die. Savers will not be limited to a once-only chance to take a single tax-free lump sum. Instead, you will have complete access to your pension savings – subject to your marginal rate of income tax in that year – effectively dipping in as you need to.

In practice, however, this is likely to be of greater benefit to the spouses of doctors where pension funding has been made from partnership earnings or limited company profits and where their rate of income tax is likely to be much lower in retirement than their higher earning partner.

You may be considering some form of ‘income drawdown’ which lets you draw an income from your pension pot while leaving the remainder invested. You choose how much lump sum or income to take leaving the rest of the fund invested. Not only will you keep control of your capital, you will have increased flexibility should economic or personal circumstances change.

Remember, many older style private pension contracts are unlikely to be ready for the April changes so be sure to check these in advance or have them reviewed professionally.

Are you set to make the most of these changes? For specialist help, call an adviser on 020 7636 7006.