UK Pension Changes - Budget 2014

The following summary of the UK Pension Budget changes, spring 2014 has been put together by The Spectrum IFA Group to assist you in understanding how the latest UK government changes to pension legislation may affect you.

QROPS Drawdown update

The UK Government have just announced (in the draft paper) to increase the current drawdown rate from UK pensions from 100% to 120% of the GAD tables.

This should have a knock on effect for all those QROPS providers who not currently offering 120% GAD, as they can now fall in line with the UK ruling.


It is expected to take effect from March 26th 2013 round the time of the Budget.

Good news for all those people who are due to review their annual drawdown limits or those who are looking at their QROPS options at the moment.

New Zealand QROPS and why we don't advise them

The New Zealand based QROPS became a favourable option for some when it transpired that their regulatory framework for non NZ residents  gave you the option to 'bust' (as it was termed) your UK pension and enable you to access all the money in the pension as a lump sum.  

This clearly contravened the intentions of QROPS and in April 2012 HMRC in the UK closed that option down.