Half of pension schemes lapse after four years

Growing personal levels of debt could cause persistency rates to fall further, according to the regulators

Only half of regular premium personal pension policies sold through advisers in 1999 were still in place after four years, research from the FSA has revealed. Of regular premium business, personal pensions showed the worst persistency rates in the regulator's 2004 survey, with just 51.3% of 1999 policies after four years, compared with 80.9% for whole life policies and 72.9% for endowments. For schemes sold in 2002 through advisers, 83.6% were still in place a year later, suggesting that more than one in every six policies lapsed within 12 months of being purchased. The personal pensi...