Alistair Darling was told last night that his decision to freeze lifetime pensions allowances could have severe consequences for thousands of savers.

Mr Darling said that the pension lifetime allowance from 2010 to 2015-16 would be frozen at £1.8 million. Anything over that amount, as with the existing limit of £1.65 million, would be taxed at a rate of 55 per cent.

The pensions industry had assumed that the allowance would be increased every year, as it has been since its introduction in 2006. Some experts dubbed the move a “stealth tax” that could generate an extra £400 million a year for the Treasury. They gave warning that it was likely to tip thousands more people into having to pay tax at the higher level.

Rachel Vahey, head of pensions development at Aegon Scottish Equitable, said: “The industry expected the lifetime allowance to continue to either rise in line with inflation or earnings, so it feels like the rug has been pulled out from underneath us. Many people who have planned their finances on this basis will have to go back to their advisers and see what this means in practice.”

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Stephen Green, a senior consultant at Watson Wyatt, the pensions consultancy, said: “Both rich and poor will have their retirement planning affected by this freezing of the lifetime allowance. For some companies, this might mean senior employees will request benefits in the form of cash payments, rather than pension benefits, much sooner than they might have expected.”

The move could also hurt thousands of low-income earners who have the right to take any pension pot that is worth less than 1 per cent of the lifetime allowance - at present £16,500 - as a lump sum rather than being forced to buy an annuity. However, with the lifetime limit being frozen at £1.8 million, it means that many more savers could breach the 1 per cent limit - forcing them to buy an annuity for a sum as trivial as £40 per month.

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