Pensioners cash in £28m a day to help young

SAVERS are rushing to take cash out of their pensions and properties to help young relatives on to the housing ladder.

Over-55s have used new pension freedoms to take an astonishing £28 million a day from their retirement nest eggs in three months, the taxman said.

Separate data show homeowners withdrew £8.2 million a day from their properties from April to June using so-called equity release – a deal giving over-55s access to the equity in their homes. Analysis by pension firms found that, as well as spending the funds in retirement, older savers are increasingly passing

cash to grandchildren struggling to climb on to the housing ladder.

Insurer Legal & General said parents will help fund property purchases worth £77 billion this year to help their children, spending £17,500 each on average. But experts warned that the stampede to cash in on pensions and properties could leave millions in danger of running out of money in their old age.

Gareth Shaw, head of consumer affairs at over-50s organisation Saga, said: ‘The decision to withdraw money from your pension or your home is not one to take lightly. It might easily backfire especially because you have to budget for the next 20 or 30 years and could run out of money if you take everything at once.

According to HM Revenue and Customs, 159,000 savers have taken a £1.77 billion from their pensions since April. It brings the amount withdrawn under new pension freedoms to £6 billion since they were introduced in April last year.