Ros Altmann

I am extremely shocked by the news of Iain Duncan Smith’s resignation and the way he has behaved. Having worked alongside him as a minister in the Department for Work and Pensions, I have seen that he championed the very package of reforms to disability benefits he now says is the reason he has resigned. I simply cannot understand why he suddenly chose to quit like this when it was clear that Number 10 and the Treasury had told him they were going to pause and rethink these measures. I’m particularly saddened that this really seems to be about the European referendum campaign rather than about DWP policy. From a personal perspective, for months I have been silenced by him and what I have said has been strictly controlled.

George Osborne has today said that he’ll allow people to sell their annuities for cash, and will consult on how best to establish a market for second-hand annuities.  This move will be popular with many of the five million or more who have been forced to buy these annuities in recent years. Here's what you need to know. 1. Annuities have become worse value but people still forced to buy as there was no other way for many to take money out of their pension funds.  The rules required anyone who wanted to withdraw some cash from their pension savings to ‘secure an income’ and if they did not have very large amounts in their fund, they had no other option – they had to buy an annuity. When interest rates crashed, so did the annuity payout.

The good news on pensions just keeps on coming. Today, at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, George Osborne will today announce the abolition of the draconian 55 per cent pension death tax. There'll be no inheritance or income tax if funds passed on as pension. There had been expectations of this being cut, perhaps to 40 per cent, but the Chancellor has decided to abolish this altogether. I gather this wasn't due to be announced until the Autumn Statement on 3 December, but the Chancellor has brought the news forward to gather some positive headlines. A chunk of his speech has been trailed: "People who have worked and saved all their lives will be able to pass on their hard-earned pensions to their families tax free.

After so many years of waiting for good news on pensions and savings, suddenly so much comes at once.  Like the proverbial Number 13 buses, a whole raft of policies has all come at once - and they are good news. It's also a brilliant Budget for Tory election prospects of course.  The devil of some of this will be in the detail but overall this is just good news all round.  And will even bring in more tax for the Chancellor short-term as pension lump sums will deliver higher tax revenue than taking small amounts of income or delaying annuity purchase. Here's my take. 1.