The taxation of pensions drastically changed in April 2006, opening up both opportunities and potential pitfalls. At the time, HM Revenue and Customs described the process of change as ‘simplification’. While this description was correct initially, a steady flow of Budget revisions since – mainly aimed at increasing revenue for the Exchequer – have recreated a labyrinth of complexity.

Eight years on from the ‘simplification’ tax changes, in the 2014 Budget the Chancellor announced a new wave of pension tax reforms, which have once again changed the pension landscape, largely ending the traditional link between pensions and annuities.

In April 2016 a single-tier state pension replaced both the basic state pension and the second state pension, leaving a new structure better suited to integration with another pension reform now being phased in –auto-enrolment in workplace pensions.

The welter of past, present and future changes make this is a good moment to review your pension arrangements and possibly look at alternative methods of retirement provision.