Nearly a quarter of a million payments were made to pension savers in April and May, according to figures published by the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

Today marks 100 days since the government introduced the pension freedom reforms, which allow savers aged 55 or over total access to their savings.

The ABI data found that £1.3bn has been put into buying regular income products, with more than 50% going into income drawdown products rather than annuities.

In 2012, when annuity sales were at their peak, more than 90% of the total value of sales were annuities and less than 10% were income drawdown sales.

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The figures also show that many customers are shopping around for the best deal, with nearly half (45% of sales) choosing a different provider when buying an annuity and over half (52% of sales) switching when buying an income drawdown product.

ABI’s director for long terms savings policy, Dr Yvonne Braun, said: “This is an important reminder that tens of thousands of people are successfully accessing the pension freedoms as intended and on the whole the industry has risen to the challenge of giving customers what they want.

“The data shows people with smaller pots tend to be cashing them out while those with larger pots tend to be buying a regular income product. It also highlights an increase in the number of people putting money into income drawdown products that can take advantage of the new freedoms.

“We are just three months into the biggest overhaul in pensions for a generation which was introduced in only one year, so some issues remain that need to be worked through, in particular around financial advice. This is why we launched our Action Plan to call for a joint taskforce with industry, Government and regulators to work through the challenges and ensure all customers can access their pension in the way they want.”