The party time of year has just passed us. When asked at festive gatherings “what do you do?”, the honest but brief response of “I’m in pensions” is met with an eerie silence that evokes thoughts of rolling tumbleweeds and a distant mission bell tolling in the breeze.

One former associate, having repeatedly been met with the usual absence of engagement, successfully used the line “I am a biscuit designer; third generation. Grandfather invented the Custard Cream, and Dad, the Bourbon. How do I improve on perfection?”.

Although it may be a challenge to match the degree of interest engendered by such a yarn by expounding on the virtues of being “in pensions”, good old HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) provided us with what could be a chat up line this festive season.

As HMRC did not know what the annuity market would do in terms of moving to a gender neutral rate from 21 December, and so could not set capped drawdown rates that more accurately reflect market rates, HMRC is using the current male capped drawdown rates as the new gender neutral rates, with effect from that date. This is good news all round, as men are unaffected, but women will gain from using what were male rates.

As a rough guide, male rates are in the region of 6% to 8% better than female rates. Hence a woman aged 65 with a £100,000 fund at the current 2% gilt rate would see the maximum capped drawdown income improve from £4,900 to £5,300.

Ultimately an eventual market adjusted gender neutral rate is highly likely to make the income calculation worse for men and less attractive for women, but only time will tell.