George Osborne’s Budget statement announced some of the biggest changes to pension savings for a generation. The chancellor pledged complete access to private pension savings, allowing individuals the freedom to choose what to do with their pension pots.

From April 2015, senior doctors with private pension schemes will now have the right to take their savings as a cash lump sum, instead of turning their savings into a guaranteed lifetime income in the form of an annuity, albeit the payments will be subject to income tax. Although this sounds very attractive it 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 marginal rate of income tax is lower than their higher earning partner.

Doctors drawing their NHS pensions have already had more access to their personal pension pots than the general public due to qualification for the ‘minimum income requirement’ for access to flexible drawdown. Lowering the qualification limit from £20,000 to £12,000 in the period prior to April 2015 will be helpful for some with less valuable NHS pension benefits.

The surprising decision to raise the annual ISA limit from £11,880 to £15,000 from July 2014 will allow doctors to shelter more funds tax-free. After recent press speculation that a cap would be placed on the overall size of ISA pots, this announcement confirms their ongoing attraction to investors.

As an example, if a husband and wife invested £30,000 per annum every year for the next 15 years and achieved a three per cent real return (after charges and inflation), the final fund will have a value of £668,222 from which tax-free withdrawals can be taken without restriction to supplement the NHS pension.

The new ISA, or ‘NISA’, will also allow savers to enjoy more flexibility and move money from existing cash ISAs into investments and back again – a useful addition where circumstances change.

ISAs have continued to grow in popularity as a supplement, or as an alternative, to private pensions where the legislative goal posts seem to be constantly moving. News that the Labour party has pledged to cut tax relief on pensions contributions for the highest rate taxpayers to just 20% from 45% could see this sector grow even further.