Six million people with defined benefit pensions have seen their transfer values shoot up in the last year, according to a major insurance company.
Under the rules of most defined benefit schemes, workers have the right to swap their pension entitlement for money.
According to the insurer Royal London, the cash that such people can get has soared over the last 12 months.
It says some are being offered “eye-watering” sums, often tens of thousands of pounds more than a year ago.
For someone with a pension income worth £20,000, it is not uncommon to be offered 30 times that amount – in other words, £600,000 in cash.
But while selling the rights to a defined benefit (DB) pension may be useful for many people, Royal London is also warning that there can be significant disadvantages.