Terminally ill savers will get easier access to their own pensions under new 12-month rule

Pensions minister Torsten Bell has set out plans to give terminally ill people earlier access to their private pension savings. The current strict "less than one year to live" medical test would be replaced with a slightly looser threshold under which a person's death within 12 months is reasonably anticipated. The change would also eliminate the anomaly whereby a dying person finds it easier to claim state benefits than to draw on their own private pension. Wider private pension reform proposals are expected by spring.

Torsten Bell said dying savers 'shouldn't have to go through red tape to get at their own pension savings.'

Marie Curie warned a terminal diagnosis causes sudden income drops and rising costs, welcoming the change as reducing poverty at end of life.

With close to 90% of eligible employees now in a workplace pension, the rules governing end-of-life access have never mattered more.