Big life and pensions companies are "running scared" of the Budget reforms and appear to be angling for the implementation date to be postponed, a Sipps firm chief executive has claimed.

John Fox, co-founder of Liberty Sipp, has hit out after a major life firm warned that the pensions industry is in danger of "breaching its capacity to cope".

Scottish Widows chief executive Toby Strauss said while the reforms created greater fairness and transparency, the firm's processes have "struggled in the wake of the ongoing changes" and consequently customer service levels have fallen.
But Mr Fox said: "There's been a drip feed of these stories (in the industry in general) ever since the Budget, saying 'we can't do this, customers will be affected'".
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He said: "I think the big issue the pension industry has got is that this was the only product in town (annuities).
"The big issue is having products that customers want, this is the anathema to the industry, it's been a one size fits all."
He believes some of the big players in the market would prefer to see the April 2015 date for the reforms to take effect to be moved back.
He said: "Who does that benefit? Not the customers, it's the life companies.
"They are running scared, these companies have been sitting as fat cats, now all of sudden the world changed over night.
"Nobody expected anything to happen in the Budget, I remember sitting there thinking a purge was happening live on TV, the life companies had been burst.
"Since that day they've been rattled, the stuff in the media last weekend was just an attempt to say 'please stop we need to protect our position'."