Further to this recent thread on pension changes coming into effect in April this year – there was an interesting article on Radio 4s Money Box today.
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Business-and-Finance/Personal-Finance/Question1396758.html
If you want, you can go to the BBC website and listen to the programme – the gist of which is that most likely, the current contract you have with whoever you are paying your pension contributions to, is to allow you to take a 25% tax free lump sum and buy an annuity with the remainder.
They are under no obligation to allow you to have access to your pension pot – as outlined by the government’s rule changes (coming into effect on April 6).
Only way to circumvent this is to transfer your pension pot to a provider that will allow such withdraws – however there will be a significant fee, possibly 10% or more (of your pension pot) to do this.
So unless the government legislates to force these shysters to give you your money – they will continue to hold on to your money for as long as possible.