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Scottish Widows: Pension reviews

Name: Pension
Rating: 1.26 (62 reviews)

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1.16

Based on 62 reviews, last reviewed 21st Mar 2025

No new 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

200% increase in 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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About this product

Scottish Widows pension reviews written by Smart Money People like you. For many of us, our pension is an important part of our financial future. Finding a pension provider that you can trust and rely on is a must for many people. Take a look at our Scottish Widows pension reviews to find out what life at Scottish Widows is really like. If you hold this pension, we'd love you to write an honest review here too!

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Scottish Widows Pension reviews (62)

Awful Customer Service

The website seldom works properly so you need to phone them. And when you phone them it is as if no one works there. I have been chasing a transfer in for 9 weeks now and nobody knows anything and the shorted time I have been on hold is 40 minutes. It is regularly over 1 hour on hold just to speak to someone. Avoid at all costs, I am trying to move away from them to a different provider. Reviewed on: 26th October 2022

Not sure if anyone acually works there?

1 hour 20 mins on the main customer service line andand addsional 30 minutes on the complaints number and no answer? This is a auful customer service for a financial comany. Reviewed on: 18th October 2022

Losing my money hand over fist.

Whatever you do, do not put your pension in the hand of Scottish Widows. I have lost 35% of my small pension pot. All you get from their customer services is that pots go down as well as up. That is all well and good but when you are due to retire in 3 months, that is not much help. Their fund manager do not manager your workplace pension very well. If I could have given them no stars I would. Reviewed on: 16th October 2022

Very poor company

At present my pension pot has lost 35% of its value in the last 10 months. I've only two months to go until I reach pensionable age. Normally pension pots are put into safe investments for the last year. Scottish widows have transferred 80% of my pension into their pension protector fund. This fund is one of the worst performing of any company over this period. (Down 42%)Having tracked my pot over the last 5 days things are getting worse. On current trajectory there will be no funds left. Have complained to sw but only get the usual response letter saying its not their fault and I could pay for an independent financial advisor to tell me why sw fund managers have made such poor investment decisions. Next step is the ombudsman, though not holding out much hope after reading some other reviews on this site. Reviewed on: 12th October 2022

keep away from this company at all cost

this compay is a complete joke . some of my pension is missing and i have been trying to get old of some for nearly a month . they dont answer the phones or just cut you of . i have even complained to they complain departmensand they have not even got back to me . its a terrible company please keep well away . Reviewed on: 12th October 2022

Very disappointed and angry

In October 2021 my stakeholder pension was worth £77k. Despite having added £7k to it in the last 10 months it is now worth £62.5k. In real terms this is decrease of over £21k or 27%. Disgusted is not he word especially as I opted for a cautious approach. I understand that pensions are not performing as they have in the past but no warning was given by SW that is was sooo bad. It is only now that I have received my statement that I have been told to review my investment. Disgusted with SW. Reviewed on: 6th October 2022

Avoid at all costs. Really poor fund performance

2 years ago my Works Pension fund was worth £78,000. Since then I have a paid in an additional £24,000. Today my pension fund is worth £75,000. So I have lost £27,000 in two years. Other pension funds with other companies have not lost any money at all and same have gained. Reviewed on: 30th September 2022

Incumbent Fund Managers

2 years to my retirement….Q: Where is my pension going? A: Down the drain faster than a rat! As a laymen I now dread scanning my pension pot value…I am aware and accept that returns can rise an fall in value. Unfortunately SW‘s Fund Managers for my Pension Protector (PP) and Portfolio 4 (P4) appear to be ignorant of the fact that when you move funds from a low depreciating P4 to a larger depreciating PP, they are not managing the pension fund with our best interests at heart in line with changing investment market conditions. Uncanny it is that since 4/1/2022 to 29/9/22 the unit price for PP has dropped from 250.40 to 138.00 (112 = 44.7%) whilst the P4 unit price dropped from 227.00 to 189.40 (37.6 = 16.56%) Indeed over the period noted above, my pension pot has went down from 261K to 178K a fall of 83K = 31.8%. Would any of these fund managers and their seniors want their own future retirement pensions mismanaged in this shoddy, head in the sand attitude hoping that in 2 years my pot may recover…I think not! Oh! Is the Pension Protector supposed to protect one’s pension? To smooth out the high peaks and low troughs to give a balanced an less volatile pathway to retirement. My Wife‘s small pension pot with Royal London has only gone down around 1K less than 10% they even monitor, restructure and inform you of changes to help protect your assets. SW‘s get your house in order! Reviewed on: 29th September 2022

Pension protector 2 now down 44% in one year

Need I say more!!!!! If you look at the financial times risk rating this fund has the highest risk and lowest return in it's category. Serious mismanagement of the fund by SW. Reviewed on: 29th September 2022

Follow up

Scottish Widows have been appalling and like Jaq I am stressed beyond a state I would ever wish upon anyone. Their ability to take a significant pension pot and reduce it so substantially in a few months despite the pot being in their supposedly managed and balanced funds leaves me incredulous. Yet still they take their fees and I read below that some folk in their Pension Protector funds have been even more badly affected than I am. I complained to the ombudsman who quoted (the tired old) "Investments can go up as well as down" well sorry very much to the ombudsman investigator but a fund named Pension Protector losing 35% of someone's 30 year accumulated pension, in less than a year, sounds very much like misleading advertising or incompetence. Write to your MP and highlight your concerns with Scottish Widows Pension mis-management as well as the Ombudsman. I have updated my complaint with the Ombudsman to one of a wider concern that SW are misleading people deliberately with their naming of Pension Funds and that adding a disclaimer that funds named as "Pension Protector" losing 35% of value in a year is not realistic performance from a professional pension provider. Either Scottish Widows are incompetent as a pension provider or they are deliberately misleading customers? They should be held to account, at the very least other folk should be warned of Scottish Widows as pension providers shortcomings and avoid them as a Pension Provider altogether / at all costs. I remain shocked and disappointed that Scottish Widows are allowed to perform this badly and the ombudsman currently appears to be somewhat toothless. I am hopeful that changing the tack of the complaint to SW false advertising/ mis-selling may help give the Ombudsman some leverage. Reviewed on: 21st September 2022

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