The Chancellor, John Healey, has decided not to cut the maximum tax-free pension lump sum, according to a report in The Times carried by the Telegraph on Monday 26 October. The Treasury has not confirmed this.
If the report is right, the maximum lump sum would stay at £268,275. Savers can take it from age 55. Earlier reports had suggested he might cut it to £100,000.
The Telegraph says pensioners withdrew £91bn from their pensions last year ahead of what it calls a Labour tax grab on retirement pots. That figure has not been independently checked.
Steve Webb, a partner at pension consultants LCP, told The Times:
"This looks like being a decidedly pensioner-friendly budget."
This remains a report until it is confirmed by the Treasury or in the Budget statement on Wednesday 28 October.