Pension savers who live in wealthy neighbourhoods could lose thousands of pounds of retirement income after a move by one of the country’s biggest insurers. Prudential has joined Norwich Union and Legal & General in calculating annuity rates according to where you live, because people in affluent areas tend to live longer. Advisers say that Prudential has gone a step further than its rivals with potentially bigger cuts to income.
Retirees with a postcode that places them in an affluent area such as Kensington or Wandsworth in west London, Roger-stone near Newport, or Saffron Walden in Essex are likely to see their incomes drop by up to an estimated 5%. According to its figures, a single man of 60 living in Kensington would receive £6,721 a year from a £100,000 fund under the new regime, compared with an annual payment of £7,181 for a man in the same circumstances but living in Dundee and a current rate of £6,881.