DEALING WITH UNCERTAINTY

DEALING WITH UNCERTAINTY

We’re committed to supporting you throughout times of uncertainty. From the rise in the cost of living, protecting yourself from fraud and understanding the impact of global events on long term savings. We’ve put together information and insight to support you during times of market volatility.

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Florist on retirement

YOUR RETIREMENT JOURNEY

The experts at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association have published a set of retirement living standard to help you picture your retirement and what it might cost. They are pitched at three levels, (minimum, moderate and comfortable) based on a basket of goods and services, from food and drink to holidays.

Retirement Living Standards

Pension planning

Pension options

Meet your future self

TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO PLAN FOR THE 'WHAT IFS'.

TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO PLAN FOR THE 'WHAT IFS'.

Would you like to leave your pension to someone you care about? Or maybe there's a charity that you'd like to support?

It only takes a few minutes, just go to your 'personal details' page and add them as a beneficiary.

Log in to nominate

Tools & calculators

Government's Mid-Life MOT

Government's Mid-Life MOT

Visit the government’s Midlife MOT website for trusted services, tools and charity resources to help you think about work, health and money with future planning in mind.

Mid-life MOT Meet your future self

Investment Risk Assessment tool

Investment Risk Assessment tool

This tool provides information that you might find useful in choosing investments to help you achieve your retirement objectives. It’s designed to assess your attitude to risk and provide you with an example of a typical asset allocation that might be used by someone with the same attitude to risk.


This tool is provided by a third party and the content is not controlled by Scottish Widows. Once you click on the link to access the tool, you will leave Scottish Widows' website.

Investment Risk Assessment Your Risk Profiler Tool

PENSION FUNDS

PENSION FUNDS

Further information on your fund choices can be found here:

Pension funds

FUNDS AND INVESTING

FUNDS AND INVESTING

Utilising the new pension flexibilities

The government have introduced new options as to how you can take your retirement benefits giving you greater flexibility over your retirement income from age 55. These rules are applicable to those pension schemes which have adopted the new rules. While it is not possible for you to access these new pension flexibilities directly from the AVC arrangement, Scottish Widows have introduced a new process that allows you to transfer out of your AVC arrangement into an alternative personal pension arrangement provided by Scottish Widows that can facilitate the pension freedoms.

Further information about the pension flexibilities can be found here.

 

  • Please call our retirement hub on 0345 835 6644 to initiate this process.  The call handler will need to take some information and take you through a number of steps to allow Scottish Widows to settle your benefits.

    Once the required information has been obtained, we will write to your scheme trustees with a specific form for them to authorise the transfer from the AVC to an alternative product (personal pension) that facilitates the new pension flexibilities. 

    Once this form has been completed by your scheme trustees, this will be sent to you for further completion and returning to Scottish Widows.  Once received, we will transfer your AVC policy in a personal pension vehicle using a cash fund.

    Once the monies are within your personal pension, we will encash this policy and pay your monies to you in line with your instructions.

    IMPORTANT: When contacting us, please remember to state if future contributions are still to be paid into your AVC arrangement.

  • Please call our retirement hub on 0345 835 6644 to initiate this process.  The call handler will need to take some information and take you through a number of steps to allow Scottish Widows to settle your benefits.  We will also cover off the verbal legal declarations/agreements required to proceed.  Please be aware the drawdown vehicle is charged differently to your AVC arrangement.

    Once the required information has been obtained and you are happy to proceed, we will write to your scheme trustees with a specific form for them to authorise the transfer from the AVC to the alternative pension vehicle (Scottish Widows Retirement Account) that facilitates the new pension flexibilities, specifically drawdown. 

    Once this form has been completed by your scheme trustees, this will be sent to you for further completion and returning to Scottish Widows.  Once received, we will transfer your AVC policy in a Retirement Account vehicle which will then allow you to flexibly access your pension fund.

    Please note this process will take 4 weeks from start to finish but could be longer depending on how long it will take for the form to be completed and returned to us.

    IMPORTANT: When contacting us, please remember to state if future contributions are still to be paid into your AVC arrangement.

YOUR KEY DOCUMENTS LIBRARY

  • Pension Investment Approaches guide (PDF, 200KB) This guide explains how our pension investment approaches work.
    Investing responsbily with your pension (PDF, 2MB) This guide provides information on how Scottish Widows are investing responsibly.

    We may have provided links to documents and other information supplied by third parties (including your employer and their advisers), who are solely responsible for their content and accuracy. All statements, views and opinions contained in these documents and other information are those of the third parties, not Scottish Widows.

    If you want to switch your funds, we recommend speaking to a financial adviser (you may be charged for this service). If you don't have a financial adviser you can find one in your local area at www.unbiased.co.uk. If you are clear on which fund you want to move to, you can call us on 0345 300 2443.

  • Your pension (PDF, 2MB) This guide, from the independent Money Advice Service, is also designed to give details on the options available to you when you start to think about taking your benefits.

    We may have provided links to documents and other information supplied by third parties (including your employer and their advisers), who are solely responsible for their content and accuracy. All statements, views and opinions contained in these documents and other information are those of the third parties, not Scottish Widows.

  • A guide to pension tax (PDF, 3MB)

    This guide provides information on the tax treatment of pension payments.
    Important notes for applications (PDF, 100KB) Important notes to be read if you are joining the scheme.

    We may have provided links to documents and other information supplied by third parties (including your employer and their advisers), who are solely responsible for their content and accuracy. All statements, views and opinions contained in these documents and other information are those of the third parties, not Scottish Widows.

Member guide (PDF, 100KB))

This guide should answer most of the questions you might have about your plan.

Application form (PDF, 600KB) If you want to join the scheme please complete the application form and return to your employer.
Policy provisions (PDF, 300KB) This contains details of the terms and conditions of the plan.
Key features of your plan (PDF, 300KB) This contains important information about your plan which you need to read.
Example illustration (PDF, 100KB) This illustration shows our standard charges and how they could affect what you might get back. Your actual charges may be different from those shown, please see your personalised illustration for details of these.

We may have provided links to documents and other information supplied by third parties (including your employer and their advisers), who are solely responsible for their content and accuracy. All statements, views and opinions contained in these documents and other information are those of the third parties, not Scottish Widows..

WOMEN IN RETIREMENT REPORT

WOMEN IN RETIREMENT REPORT

Our latest Women and Retirement report dives deeper into some of the reasons behind the gender pension gap, showing that deep-seated structural inequalities remain on pay and employment.

Read the report (PDF, 4MB) opens in a new tab

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

  • Many employers provide a workplace pension for their staff. Workplace pensions can be a good option as most employers will also make a regular contribution to your pension.

    HOW DOES A WORKPLACE PENSION WORK?

    Watch our short video to find out more about your workplace pension.

  • Under automatic enrolment, there is a minimum total contribution that must be paid into your pension. The amount is set by the Government and is made up of your and your employer’s contributions, as well as tax relief on your contribution.

    WHAT IS TAX RELIEF?

    Tax relief is just one of the benefits of a pension. In this video, we explain how tax relief works and what it could mean for you. The tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances. Your circumstances and tax rules may change in the future.

    CAN YOU COMBINE YOUR DIFFERENT PENSION POTS TOGETHER?

    Merging your pension pots can make managing your pension much easier, but you may lose access to certain benefits if you do so.

    Can you combine all your pensions?

    Learn more about workplace pensions

  • No matter how close you are to retirement, you still have time to boost your pension savings. You can top up your existing pension contribution by paying in a lump sum or increasing your regular contributions. The retirement benefits you receive will depend on a number of factors including the value of your plan when you decide to take your benefits which isn't guaranteed, and can go down as well as up. The value of your plan could fall below the amount(s) paid in.

    HOW MUCH SHOULD I SAVE FOR RETIREMENT?

    When you start saving for your future it's important to consider how much money you should save.

  • You can find out more about your investment choices in the Key Documents section of the scheme infosite. You may want to review your current investment choice and be comfortable that these are still aligned to your attitude to risk. If you are still unsure what to do you could speak to a financial adviser to help you. Please note, you’ll need to pay for this.

    DO I NEED A FINANCIAL ADVISER?

    Financial Advisers can really help you make the most of your money and plan for your future. We also look at some of the other options available.

    Find a financial adviser

    Learn more about saving for your future

  • Retirement calculators help you to understand what each pension option could mean to you. You can also explore how tax will be applied when taking all or some of your money out.

     

    Go to calculators

    You can also log in to use more tools

    WHEN SHOULD I TAKE MY PENSION?

    When planning for your future, it's important to know when you can access your pension pot.  You can normally take your benefits from age 55, however the Normal Minimum Pension Age will be changing from 55 to 57 from 2028.

    See your pension options

    WHAT IS A STATE PENSION?

    There are a number of differences between the State Pension and a private pension, including when you can get it and how much you'll get. Our Retirement Expert Alison explains more in our short film.

FAQS

FAQS

Answers to some of your pension questions.

Read our FAQs

Contact us

Scottish Widows member helpdesk

0345 755 6557

Opening hours

Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.