An annuity is a lifetime annuity if it is payable by an insurance company to a member of a registered pension scheme until the member's death or the end of a guaranteed period ending after the member's death. Until 6 April 2015, the annuity was not permitted to decrease from one year to the next, and the member had to have been given the opportunity to choose the insurance company by whom the lifetime annuity was paid. Both these requirements no longer apply to lifetime annuities starting on or after 6 April 2015. (Paragraph 3, Schedule 28, Finance Act 2004.)