CMI Working Paper 155

Working Paper 155 was published in October 2021. This paper describes the experience of enhanced pension annuities (annuities for individuals with medical or lifestyle impairments) over the period 2011 to 2019; the results are available in accompanying spreadsheets. The paper also provides an indicative analysis of the experience of enhanced annuities in the first half of 2020, covering the “first wave” period of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The analyses show that:

• Overall, the mortality experience of the enhanced annuity dataset is considerably heavier than that of non-enhanced annuitants.
• The experience is highest at younger (pensioner) ages and is closer to non-enhanced annuitants at the older ages.
• The enhanced annuities dataset shows a similar downward trend to the non-enhanced dataset when considering mortality rates by deprivation (measured by the Index of Multiple Deprivation, or IMD), with higher mortality in more deprived deciles.
• Mortality experience, when expressed as Standardised Mortality Rates (SMRs), is substantially higher in April and May 2020, the period when the Covid-19 pandemic impacted population mortality than in the corresponding months of 2019. 

The accompanying results are available in two forms:

• Summary spreadsheets, with results for 2011-2019 combined, both without improvements and with improvements from CMI_2020. 
• Datasheets containing the detailed data, for example by individual age and individual calendar year. 

The summary results spreadsheet provides a high-level overview of the results but does not allow users to choose an alternative base table. Users wishing to see more granular data, and to alter the comparison basis, should refer to the datasheets.

Note: this paper and the accompanying spreadsheets are available to Authorised Users only.