The number of pensioners who felt they needed to dip into pension pots grew by a third last quarter year on year from 454,000 payments totalling  £1,500 million in Q4 2017 to 628,000 equating to £1,900 million in the same quarter 2018, according to HMRC’s Flexible Payments from Pensions statistics. 

Since the scheme’s inception, there have been 5,489,000 payments made, totalling £23,590 million.

Steve Wilkie, managing director of lifetime mortgage specialist Responsible Life, fears that this “incredible rate of growth” may been that many are “storing up trouble for the future.”

He expl...