Personal Money · Tuesday, 29 September 2026

01 Briefing what happened

Aviva's boss says rumours before recent Budgets pushed its pension withdrawals to 30 times normal. She has asked the chancellor to stop floating ideas.

Personal Money 30 sources

Savers took tax-free cash early before the 2024 and 2025 Budgets, and the rule was left alone in November 2025. Also today: UK diesel hits a record 199.18p a litre, Trump weighs a ban on diesel exports, and a court orders two crypto fraudsters to repay 851,402 pounds.

30x

Aviva's normal level of pension withdrawals, reached in the last year

its boss links it to talk before recent Budgets [1]

25%

of a private pension that can usually be taken tax-free, up to 268,275 pounds

the rule was left unchanged in November 2025 [2][3]

A third

more people taking tax-free cash at AJ Bell before the 2024 Budget than its yearly average

payments into pensions at AJ Bell rose almost 60% in September 2024, on a year earlier [7]

The lead story — what happened

Amanda Blanc, the boss of Aviva, a big UK pension and insurance company, says its pension withdrawals ran at 30 times their normal level in the last year. [1]
She links the rush to talk before the last couple of Budgets that pension rules would change. [1] The rumour in 2025 was that the tax-free part of a pension would be cut or limited. [2]
Rachel Reeves, the previous chancellor, left the tax-free cash rule unchanged in her Budget on 26 November 2025. [2][3]
Savers aged 55 or over can usually take a quarter of a private pension tax-free, up to 268,275 pounds. [4] From 2028 the earliest age becomes 57. [4]
'Once you take your tax-free lump sum out, you can't put it back in,' Blanc told the BBC. [1] The FCA, Britain's financial regulator, says taking the cash carries no right to cancel. [5] Tax law decides whether it can be paid in again, and whether a tax charge follows. [5]
The same rush happened in 2025. In October Tom McPhail, an independent pensions commentator, wrote that he was taking his tax-free cash in case the allowance was cut. [4]
It happened in 2024 too. Before Reeves' first Budget, AJ Bell, an investment platform, said the number of people taking tax-free cash was about a third above its yearly average. [7] Quilter, a wealth management firm, reported a surge in calls from people wanting to withdraw. [6]
Blanc has asked John Healey, the chancellor, not to 'fly kites' before his first Budget on 28 October. [1][2] Flying a kite means floating an idea in public to test it. [1]
In August she said Healey had promised her in person not to brief possible policy changes before the Budget. [2]
The UK government says it is trying to keep speculation to a minimum this year. [8] Talk of a change to Capital Gains Tax, the tax on profits from selling assets, is already running. [8] Reports say an extra council tax charge on homes in England worth over 2m pounds may be widened to homes over 1.5m pounds. [8]

Can be taken tax-free25%
The rest of the pot75%

How a private pension splits at the tax-free step. Up to a quarter can come out without tax, up to 268,275 pounds.

Who is involved

Amanda Blanc

chief executive of Aviva, a major UK pension provider; she asked ministers not to float ideas before the Budget
John Healey

Britain's chancellor, in charge of tax and spending; his first Budget is on 28 October
Rachel Reeves

the previous chancellor; her November 2025 Budget left tax-free pension cash alone
AJ Bell

a UK investment platform; it reported a rush for tax-free cash before the 2024 Budget
The FCA

Britain's financial regulator; it says taking tax-free cash comes with no right to cancel

How it unfolded

Oct 2024 savers rush to take tax-free cash before Reeves' first Budget [6][7]
Sep 2025 the FCA says taking tax-free cash carries no right to cancel [5]
Oct 2025 a pensions commentator says he is taking his tax-free cash early [4]
26 Nov 2025 Reeves' Budget leaves the tax-free cash rule unchanged [2][3]
Aug 2026 Blanc asks Healey not to float ideas, and he promises not to brief them [2]
28 Oct 2026 Healey's first Budget [8]

Where this points

The next test is Healey's Budget on 28 October: whether it touches tax-free pension cash, and whether talk of changes stays as quiet as he promised. [2][8]

What is pushing on the whole day

The bar and the word are our reading of how hard each one is pushing today. The arrow is where it is heading. The evidence is in the stories below.

Budget rumours Building↑

Aviva's pension withdrawals ran at 30 times normal in the last year, which its boss links to Budget talk. [1] The CBI, a business group, says uncertainty about the 28 October Budget is holding back activity in some parts of the economy. [16]

Diesel prices High↑

UK diesel reached a record 199.18p a litre on Monday. [11] Britain buys much of the diesel it imports from the US. [12] President Trump says he is thinking very seriously about stopping US diesel exports. [15]

Money lost to fraud Steady→

A court ordered two crypto fraudsters to repay 851,402 pounds of the 1.54m pounds they took. [19] In June a court ordered Daniel Pugh to repay about a third of the 1.3m pounds he took. [21] The FCA says 21 trading firms that used a UK licence to make companies abroad look safer have closed. [22]

Insurance cover in doubt Building↑

Aviva's boss says some homes built today may become impossible to insure against floods. [1] Customers of Abacus, an insurance broker, may have paid for policies that never reached an insurer. [25]

The rest of the day

11 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

02
UK diesel hits a record 199.18p

Diesel at UK pumps averaged 199.18p a litre on Monday, a record, the RAC motoring group said. [10][11] That beats the 199.09p of June 2022, and is up from 142.38p on 28 February, when the US-Iran war began. [11] Filling an average family car now costs almost 110 pounds, 31 pounds more than before the war. [11] Britain's four refineries make enough petrol but not enough diesel, so the country relies on imports. [10] A 5p rise in fuel duty, a tax on each litre, was put off in May until the end of December. [13]

28 Feb, war begins142.38 p
28 Sep, record199.18 p
Average price of a litre of diesel in the UK, from the RAC.

Why it matters — About 15.1 million diesel vehicles were licensed in the UK in June, and the RAC expects the cost to reach shoppers through lorries and vans. [11][10] Since February every UK forecourt must post its prices within 30 minutes, so apps can show the cheapest nearby. [14]
03
Homes in flood zones may lose cover

Amanda Blanc, Aviva's boss, says England is building homes that may become impossible to insure because of flooding. [1] At the current pace, 115,000 new homes will go up in flood zones over the next ten years, she said. [1] Aviva found that one in nine homes built from 2022 to 2024 is at medium or high risk of flooding. [1] Insurance spreads risk across many people, and it gets much harder to offer once a flood is almost certain, she told the BBC. [9]

1 of 9
new homes at medium or high flood risk
One in nine homes built in England from 2022 to 2024 is at medium or high risk of flooding, Aviva's research found.

Why it matters — About 6.3 million homes and businesses in England are already at risk of flooding, the Environment Agency says. [1] The Met Office says record wet winters like 2023-24 now come about once in 20 years, not once in 80. [1]
04
Trump weighs a ban on diesel exports

President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he is thinking 'very seriously' about stopping US refiners selling diesel abroad. [15][12] US diesel is near a record 6.45 dollars a gallon, the AAA motoring group says, and he wants it cheaper before the midterm elections. [15] US refineries make four to five million barrels of diesel a day and export 1.2 to 1.5 million. [15] Most goes to Latin America, and some goes to France, the Netherlands and the UK. [15] Healey says the UK is in talks with the US and preparing for a ban. [15]

Why it matters — Britain buys much of the diesel it imports from the US. [12] David Fyfe, an energy analyst at Argus Media, warns a ban would push world prices up and damage trust in US supply. [15]
05
Healey promises to keep to borrowing rules

John Healey gave his first Labour Party conference speech as Britain's chancellor on Monday. [17] He said the money Labour had in the 1990s 'is simply not there now', and promised to keep to the UK's borrowing rules. [17] Every mayor can now run a local apprenticeship service, paid for by 100m pounds of savings at the benefits department. [17] 'The best thing we can offer a young person is not a benefit payment,' he said. [17] The triple lock, which raises the state pension by the highest of wage growth, inflation or 2.5%, is being debated. [1][18]

Why it matters — The OBR, the UK's official spending watchdog, forecast in March that debt interest will cost 135bn pounds in 2026-27, more than the Home Office, justice and defence together. [17] Analysts at the firm KPMG think the spare room under the borrowing rules may have shrunk from 23.6bn pounds to 12bn. [8]
06
Crypto fraud victims to get money back

A court in London ordered two convicted fraudsters on Monday to repay 851,402 pounds, which the FCA will return to their victims. [19] Raymondip Bedi and Patrick Mavanga cold-called people from 2017 to 2019, and at least 65 investors lost 1.54m pounds on their fake crypto deals. [19] In July the same court ordered John Burford to repay 655,951 pounds. [20] With his earlier payments, about 99% of what his roughly 70 victims invested will have been returned. [20] In June it ordered Daniel Pugh to repay 452,287 pounds of the 1.3m pounds he took. [21]

Burford's victims99%
Bedi and Mavanga's55%
Pugh's35%
Share of what victims lost that is covered, in three FCA cases this year. Burford's figure includes money he repaid before the court order.

Why it matters — A confiscation order can only take what a court finds the fraudster still has, so victims get back what is left. [20][21]
07
24 trading firms shut in licence crackdown

Twenty-one firms selling contracts for difference, or CFDs, have closed since 2025 after an FCA crackdown, and three more are giving up their permission. [22] A CFD is a bet on whether the price of a share or other asset rises or falls, without owning it. [23] The FCA says the firms did little UK business and used their UK licence to make linked companies abroad look safer. [22] Customers could think they had UK protections when they did not. [22] A review in November 2025 found some CFD firms may not give customers fair value. [24]

Why it matters — UK protections are unlikely to apply to an overseas firm with a name like a UK one, the FCA says. [22] In October 2025 it said its CFD rules stop nearly 400,000 people a year risking more than they put in. [23]
08
Influencers sentenced over a trading scheme

The FCA announced in February that seven social media influencers had been sentenced at Southwark Crown Court for promoting a currency trading scheme it had not approved. [30] They included Lauren Goodger, Yazmin Oukhellou and Scott Timlin, and all pleaded guilty to issuing unauthorised financial promotions. [30] The FCA said they 'betrayed the trust' of the people who followed them. [30] In October 2025 it said over 90,000 people had lost about 75m pounds over four years at one firm promoted this way. [23]

Why it matters — The FCA says it will keep going after influencers who put their followers' money at risk. [30]
09
Insurance broker made bankrupt

A court in Scotland made Arthur Temlett bankrupt on 27 August, at the request of the FCA. [25] Temlett traded as Abacus Insurance Consultants and sold home and car insurance. [25] The FCA barred him from regulated work in January 2025 over concerns that he sold policies without passing the payments to insurers. [25] He is awaiting trial on embezzlement charges after a Police Scotland investigation. [25] A trustee, Emma Porter of Aver Chartered Accountants, will try to recover money and share it among people he owes. [25]

Why it matters — A customer who paid Abacus may have had no cover at all. [25] The FCA asks anyone who paid for a policy that may not exist to report it to Police Scotland. [25]
10
Group claims for shoppers face stricter judges

Recent rulings suggest the Competition Appeal Tribunal, which hears claims brought for millions of shoppers at once, is getting stricter about which go ahead, the FT reports. [26] Its president, Mrs Justice Bacon, said in May that the people claiming, not lawyers and funders, should be the main winners. [26] One case over unfair train tickets won 25m pounds for passengers, but only 1% of them took their share. [26] In July the High Court rejected most 'Dieselgate' claims by 1.6 million owners of cars from Peugeot, Renault, Mercedes and others. [26]

1 of 100
passengers who took their share
In the train-ticket case, about 1 in every 100 passengers owed money took their share of the 25m pounds.

Why it matters — The UK government is consulting on tougher rules for approving claims and checking who pays for them. [26] The Law Commission is also looking at a new system for shoppers' group claims. [26]
11
Money firms upheld 56% of complaints

UK banks, insurers and other financial firms closed 1,720,632 complaints in the second half of 2025, FCA figures show. [27] They found for the customer in 55.5% of them and paid 235.8m pounds in redress, the money paid to put a wrong right. [27] The average payment on an upheld complaint was 215 pounds. [27] Current accounts drew the most complaints, 492,149, followed by credit cards and car insurance. [27] The FCA revised the figures in May after finding a reporting error at one firm. [27]

Why it matters — That is fewer than the 1.82 million complaints closed in the first half of 2025. [27] Almost 45 in every 100 were closed within three days. [27]
12
The IRS swaps IRS2Go for a new app

The IRS, the US tax agency, launched a new phone app on 25 September, replacing IRS2Go, which it ran for more than a decade. [28] Taxpayers who sign in can see their balance, payments, some letters and tax records. [29] Checking a refund, making some payments and finding free filing help still work without signing in. [29] The app is free, and people who already have IRS2Go get it as an update. [28] The IRS warns of look-alike apps, and says it will not ask for personal or financial details by an unsolicited text, email or pop-up. [28]

Why it matters — Frank Bisignano, the IRS's chief executive, calls the app part of a 'digital-first' push. [28] Phone and in-person help remain for people whose problems the app cannot solve. [28]

02 Lesson why it matters

Why some money decisions are one-way

Pension cash taken out cannot simply be paid back in, so savers who took it on a Budget rumour could not undo it when the rule stayed.

The twist

The rule savers feared was never changed. They took the money out because it might be, and that step was hard to undo.

The picture

A normal level1 x

The last year30 x

Aviva's pension withdrawals in the last year, as a multiple of its normal level, from its boss. The tax-free cash rule was left unchanged in November 2025.

How it works

A saver aged 55 or over can usually take a quarter of a pension tax-free
Before a Budget, reports say that tax-free share may be cut
Some savers take the cash early, while the old rule still stands
Tax rules limit paying it back in, and can add a tax charge
The Budget leaves the rule alone, but the money stays out

The same force, elsewhere today

Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

Crypto fraud victims to get money back

Money paid into Bedi and Mavanga's fake scheme from 2017 could not simply be taken back. Only in September 2026 did a court order about 851,000 pounds of the 1.54m pounds repaid.
Homes in flood zones may lose cover

A house cannot move once it is built. If insurers stop covering its flood zone, the owner is left with the place the builder chose.
Insurance broker made bankrupt

Customers paid Abacus for home and car cover. If that money never reached an insurer, they cannot take the payment back, and a trustee now tries to recover what is left.

Where you've seen this

Leaving a job

a resignation takes one letter, and the same job at the same pay may not be there later

Selling a home

moving back to the same street later means paying fees again, and prices there may have risen

Cutting down an old tree

it falls in a morning and takes decades to grow again

The catch

Not every step is fully one-way. Paying the cash back into a pension is not always ruled out, but tax rules set the limits and a tax charge can follow. A saver who needed the cash anyway was not hurt by the timing.

And the whole of it

Anyone with a pension is inside this, alongside the firm paying it out and the minister writing the Budget. On the day a saver decides, none of them knows which rumour will become a rule.

03 Truth what's really going on

What is really going on

Twice in two years, reports that tax-free pension cash would be cut sent UK savers to take it out early, and in November 2025 the rule was left alone. [6][7][4][3] Aviva says its withdrawals ran at 30 times normal, and its boss has asked John Healey not to float ideas before his 28 October Budget. [1][2]

Why it works on us — A change that might be coming makes waiting feel like the risky choice, even when the step taken is hard to undo. [1][4]

Who gains

Ministers writing a Budget — Floating an idea in public lets them test it before deciding, which Aviva's boss calls flying kites. [1]
Countries and refiners that export diesel — Russia's diesel exports fell after attacks on its refineries, so buyers turned to other exporters and wholesale prices rose. [11]
Victims of Bedi and Mavanga's crypto scheme — A court ordered the two men to repay 851,402 pounds, which the FCA will return to them. [19]
Mayors and young people looking for work — Every mayor can now run a local apprenticeship service, with an extra 100m pounds from benefit-department savings. [17]
Taxpayers in the US — The new IRS app shows their balance, payments and some letters on a phone, free. [28][29]

Who pays

Savers who took tax-free cash on a rumour — The cash is out of the pension, and tax law limits paying it back in, sometimes with a tax charge. [1][5]
UK drivers and shoppers — A family car's tank of diesel costs 31 pounds more than before the war. [11] The RAC expects lorry and van costs to be passed on. [10]
Buyers of new homes in flood zones — About 115,000 new homes will go up in flood zones in the next ten years, and Aviva's boss says some may become uninsurable. [1]
Customers of Abacus Insurance Consultants — The FCA says its owner may have sold home and car insurance without passing the payments to insurers. [25]
CFD traders who signed with overseas firms — UK protections are unlikely to apply to an overseas firm with a name like a UK one, the FCA says. [22]

What nobody knows yet

Open questions from across today’s stories — ours included.

01

How much money left UK pensions because of the Budget rumours.

Aviva gave a multiple of its own normal level, not a sum in pounds, and we found no total across all pension firms. [1]
02

Whether Healey's Budget touches tax-free pension cash.

He promised Aviva's boss not to brief ideas in advance, and the Budget is not until 28 October. [2][8]
03

Whether the US bans diesel exports, and what that would do to UK prices.

Trump says he is thinking about it very seriously, and Healey says the UK is in talks and preparing. [15]
04

How much UK diesel has risen since the war began.

Alliance News counts 56.8p, from 142.38p on 28 February. [11] The BBC says 59p, just under 40%, since the end of February. [10] We could not tell which starting price the BBC used.
05

When UK pump prices come down.

The RAC says only a lower oil price held for several weeks will do it. [10] Brent crude, the world oil price, is back above 100 dollars a barrel. [13]
06

Whether homes now being built in flood zones will stay insurable.

Aviva's boss says some may not, and the BBC says it asked the UK government for comment. [1]
07

How many homes are at risk of flooding.

The BBC report gives the Environment Agency's 6.3 million homes and businesses in England. [1] The BBC's interview page gives Aviva's estimate of 6.3 million UK homes. [9]
08

How much Abacus's customers will get back.

A trustee is still assessing Arthur Temlett's affairs, and he is awaiting trial on embezzlement charges. [25]
09

Whether stricter judges leave shoppers with fewer group claims or better ones.

The UK government and the Law Commission are both reviewing the rules, and neither has reported. [26]

04 Hope carry this

A court ordered two men who ran a fake crypto investment scheme to repay 851,402 pounds on Monday. The FCA will return the money to the people they cheated, at least 65 investors.

Also true today

In July a court order against the fraudster John Burford meant that about 99% of the money his roughly 70 victims invested will have been returned to them.
Twenty-one trading firms that used a UK licence to make companies abroad look safer have closed since 2025, and three more are giving up their permission.
Americans can now check their tax balance, payments and some IRS letters on a free official phone app, launched on 25 September.