Write a review

Go to business site

Scottish Widows: Pension reviews

Name: Pension
Rating: 1.24 (67 reviews)

View other Scottish Widows products

1.14

Based on 67 reviews, last reviewed 21st Oct 2025

No new 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

75% decrease 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

Scottish widows lost over 38K in one year of my har... Scottish widows lost over 38K in one year of my hard earned pension without consultation or information Reviewed on: 21st October 2025

Read all reviews See your review

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!

Scottish Widows Pension reviews (67)

Review of the Scottish Widows, Pension:

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

Loss at 25.76% for Scottish Widows Pension Protector in 2022

Figures for 2022 are 25.76% loss on Scottish Widows Pension Protector, 11.01% loss on pension portfolio 4 and a 0.64% loss on cash. That is, a 13% loss of the pension protector over 5 years. Even given the current economic climate, this instills almost no confidence that Scottish Widows will actively manage your pension money in your interests appropriately. Putting too high a proportion of the pension pot in a seriously failing so called 'Scottish Widows pension protector' has resulted in a disastrous year that is completely unnecessary Reviewed on: 19th July 2022

Shockingly poor performance

My policy has gone down in value by over 20%. Some of it was invested in Pension Protector which has performed very badly. I spoke to a customer services rep and there are no plans to review it. very poor. Reviewed on: 15th July 2022

Won't give me my money

I've tried a number of times over the years to cash in this policy, worth maybe £5000. They kept putting obstacles in the way, but this year I've followed it all the way through, and they just won't pay out. AVOID AT ALL COST! Reviewed on: 8th July 2022

Worst company ever

No one has product knowledge, no one takes responsibility all blaming another "team' nor do they believe in time scales no one is capable of using a phone to make promised call back. I have spoke to a lot of people and all say something different most of it completely fabricated rubbish. Two months since requesting a drawdown on pension I am still waiting for funds. Reviewed on: 29th June 2022

Pension Ponzi Scheme - Scottish Widows steals pensions

Work placed pension switched from Fidelity to this thieving company in April 2021. Since then Scottish Widows has stolen 37% of my contributions and overall my pension pot is 10% down in one year. Please do not use this company for a pension. If you do you will find you have far less after giving them money. Utter criminals Reviewed on: 23rd June 2022

Scottish Widows are shockingly bad

I'm 56 and I was considering drawing down some funds this year. I had planned and hence I moved my Scottish Widows Uk stock market tracker pension to their balanced and supposedly lower risk Pension Portfolio 2 and 4 Series 2 in Nov 21 trusting those clever SW manager folk (led by Philip chandler) to protect the pension pot I had with them. Now in May 2022 they have lost a £1000 a week in their lower risk funds -??? I have complained to Scottish Widows who responded Brexit has impacted fund values (sorry I do not accept from Nov 21 to May 22 brexit has caused them to lose my fund £1000 a week from their managed balanced and lower risk funds what a ridiculous response) So I have complained now to the Ombudsman. Will update with any developments but my view is do not go near Scottish Widows as a pension manager. See update above I am hoping to meet my local MP next two weeks to raise these concerns Reviewed on: 22nd May 2022

Pension lost 8%

I have 2 pension pots my large one is with the Prudential which is still performing at around a 4.8% return. My second pension pot is the smaller and with Scottish Widows. This is currently returning a loss of around -1.9% and has caused me to lose slightly over 8% in the last 4 months. So glad that the Scottish Widows pension is only a small one and not one on which I rely. Reviewed on: 4th May 2022

DONT USE THEM

Move a pension to them , everytime i need to take to them it takes a hour waiting for someone to answer , today i spent 45 minutes waiting , agent answers , then asks a few questions and dumps me back in the queue for another 20 minutes then call ends . Disgrace you should be ashamed , last straw for me im moving my pension Reviewed on: 8th April 2022

Frustrating

Would have been quicker to paint forth bridge than get pension out Reviewed on: 3rd April 2022

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, showing me what I need to know and providing thorough information on financial wellbeing. Feel like they are going above and beyond to help people help themselves. Reviewed on: 12th January 2022

Do you have a different Scottish Widows product?

Share your experiences with products to help others make smarter financial decisions and learn more about different products available. Write a review

Are you a business? Get insights, reply to reviews, invite customers and understand their needs

Alternative products

Pension
from CIRCA5000 3.80 from 4 reviews
Personal Pension
from Penfold 5.00 from 4 reviews
Pensions
from interactive investor 4.53 from 7 reviews

Want to see more from Scottish Widows?

Mortgage
from Scottish Widows 4.71 from 3 reviews
ISA
from Scottish Widows 4.50 from 2 reviews
Life Insurance
from Scottish Widows 4.12 from 7 reviews

View all products

Join Smart Money People

Keep up to date on ratings of your favourite businesses. Find out about our awards and write new reviews with ease

Create an account

News, guides and insight from our team

View resource hub