The gloom surrounding the reduction in pensions reliefs was offset to some degree by the chancellor's surprise restoration of the capped drawdown income limit.
Saying he had "listened to concerns from pensioners" he announced that the government will raise the capped drawdown limit from 100 per cent to 120 per cent of the Government Actuary's Department (GAD) limits, "giving pensioners with these arrangements the option of increasing their incomes".
The government reduced the limit from 120 per cent of GAD to 100 per cent only 18 months ago, in April 2011. The u-turn in restoring the income limit flies in face of Treasury warnings about pensioners exhausting funds.