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Scottish Widows: Pension reviews

Name: Pension
Rating: 1.26 (62 reviews)

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1.17

Based on 62 reviews, last reviewed 21st Mar 2025

No new 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

No new 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

4 star

3 star

2 star

94%

Latest highest rating:

5

Great customer and digital services Switched all my pensions to my workplace pension with Scottish Widows. Such a smooth process, I was kept well informed throughout. Their app is great,... Read more Reviewed on: 12th January 2022

Latest lowest rating:

1

Everything was a struggle. Everything was a struggle. Two GDPR breaches. Still pending information on why the plan performance was so dire. Reviewed on: 21st March 2025

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Scottish Widows Pension reviews (62)

Review of the Scottish Widows, Pension:

Scottish Widows Avoid at all costs.

SW transferred 30% of my pension into cash. They charge for managing the fund and they pay 0% interest. Couple this with inflation at 12%. So what do SW do with the money, stick in in a cardboard box under the desk? I think not, they are using my money to make money and are charging me for the priviledge. Total scam however as they are part of Lloyds banking group why am I surprised. As to Pension Protector 2. SW had a clear warning that there was an issue with this scheme in 2021 when there was a sudden massive dip, which recovered, however the alarm bells should have gone off. SW did nothing. This scheme is now 25% down and there is no guarantee that it has hit rock bottom or the time scale for any meaningful recovery Normally a balanced portfolio would be considered to be 60% stocks 40% bonds. SW transferred my money into 60% Bonds 40% cash. They clearly take no notice of the mantra that they trot out "past performance is no guarantee of future returns". Their total complacency has cost me dear. SW has not managed my money in a professional way, incompetent would be my word of choice. I am now working an extra year to make up the shortfall. I should have retired a month ago. Reviewed on: 9th August 2022

LOST MY MONEY

RANG UP WAS PASSED AROUND WAS ON THE PHONE FOR 2 HOURS AND STILL COULD NOT FIND MY PENTION MONEY A JOKE Reviewed on: 20th January 2023

Scottish Widows MERRY GO ROUND

Dreadful Customer Service . Long waits on phone then you don't get any where because THEY DON'T KNOW WHATS GONE WRONG, BUT THEY'RE VERY SORRY!!! Passed from dept to dept, complaints fall on deaf ears , IF YOU EXPECT TO GET YOUR PENSION PAID OUT DON'T TRUST THIS COMPANY Reviewed on: 11th January 2023

Utter joke

No concept of allowing investors to mitigate risks in business cycle and ALL about funnelling funds into their poor asset managers without any choice. Shameful. Reviewed on: 28th December 2022

dreadful performance, appalling investment returns, no communications

I retired at seventy and had an employers pension of £39000 that was held in a pension preservation pot , It grew to £47000 but has now collapsed to less than £33000 in just under five years. I can never touch this now , will have to leave it to my kids ! may be over twenty years it might grow, or pigs might fly! their communication skills are zero , ignore letters , the telephone is a circular tour that just goes nowhere, do not touch this company with a bargepole. Reviewed on: 23rd December 2022

Unbelievably incompetent

I have just receive my annual Retirement Account Statement and discovered that my pension fund has fallen in value by over 33% in just 12 months. We all know that the market is "volatile" but for a "Pension Protector"fund to drop by a third in less than a year requires more than market volatility. I retire in less than 12 months and have been putting as much into my pension as I can afford every month - it's just disappeared. Reviewed on: 20th December 2022

Pension Protector fund - what a scandalous misnomer!

My Pension Fund certainly wasn't "protected" by Scottish Widows. Being able to see the value of my pension every time I logged into my LIoyds Bank account, I watched the value of the fund fall over the past two years and then take a nosedive through this summer. When I cashed-in the fund in late September this year, the value had been eroded by around 30 per cent. The poor performance of my fund was matched by the service I received from Scottish Widows staff. Several telephone hours were spent being passed from person to person and holding on their telephone service. This caused many days delay to activating the termination of my fund, whilst its value was continuing to fall. Further incompetence and lack of professionalism was displayed in errors to my final confirmation letter from Scottish Widows. This appalling custodianship of peoples' pensions is scandalous. Reviewed on: 19th December 2022

A joke of a company

I moved jobs in Sept 22. My employer has a pension with SW. I filled in forms my employer sent and these were sent over to SW - 3 times now as of yesterday! My employer has made 2 monthly contributions on my behalf so far (Oct and Nov). However, SW have no policy number for me having emailed, filled in forms and spoken to them on the telephone countless times since i started my new job, its now 07 Dec 2022. I was given a different email address today to contact: lpc.aftersalesATscottishwidows.co.uk I was unable to deliver your message to the following addresses: lpc.aftersalesATscottishwidows.co.uk Reason: 550 #5.1.0 Address rejected. All I want is the number so I can transfer my previous employment's pension in. If I had a choice I wouldn't have a pension with this company - if you do have a choice AVOID Reviewed on: 7th December 2022

Jokers

On the phone for over an hour...passed to three people. Then still nothing was sorted out .I'm very angry. They are absolutely useless Reviewed on: 24th November 2022

Disgraceful performance

My Scottish Widows pension fund - in what they term 'Retirement Account' has tumbled in value over the last 12 months, losing £20,000 of it's original £150,000. The losses didn't happen at a specific moment in time but gradually over the entire 12 months. I'm no finance genius, but why didn't the fund managers remove the money from whatever they were invested in and put it under a mattress? My other pension with Lansdown Hargreaves has grown over the period - so justify that SW? Reviewed on: 18th November 2022

Terrible company

My ex employer moved my workplace pension over to Scottish widows. The Communisis Trustees took it upon themselves to change my fund choices without my consent. In 16 months my pension pot has fallen by £10,000. Scottish Widows refuse to do anything about it, they are really not bothered but are quite happy to take their % from me all the same. Do they actually have fund managers that know what they are doing. Stay well clear if you don’t want to lose your money. Reviewed on: 14th November 2022

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