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Standard Life: Pensions reviews

Name: Pensions
Rating: 2.35 (60 reviews)

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2.51

Based on 60 reviews, last reviewed 26th Feb 2025

No new 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

No new 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

20%

12%

10%

53%

Latest highest rating:

5

The investment in my pension and advice The investment in my pension has increased significantly, year by year. They provide very informative webinars on pensions and I found this very helpf... Read more Reviewed on: 26th February 2025

Latest lowest rating:

2

What on earth has happened to Standard Life Chris Canham Write a review Reviews 3.6 949 total 5-star 43% 4-star 5% 3-star 3% 2-star 5% 1-star 44% Sort: Chris Canham 61 reviews R... Read more Reviewed on: 25th October 2024

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About this product

Standard Life 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 Standard Life pension reviews to find out what life at Standard Life is really like. If you hold this pension, we'd love you to write an honest review here too!

Standard Life Pensions reviews (60)

Review of the Standard Life, Pensions:

Poor service re tax free lump sum

On 14th April 2016 I rang Standard Life’s office to request to take 25% of my pension fund as a tax free lump sum. I was disappointed to learn that before I could do this, I had to discuss my request with one of their advisers and this appointment could not be arranged for up to 2 weeks. In the event, an appointment was made for a telephone consultation on Friday 22nd April. During the course of the consultation that lasted around 1 hour, I was advised that the value of the 25% tax free lump transaction would be £149,889.52 but it might take 8 - 10 days to get the funds because Standard Life might need to verify my bank details. At this point, I believed that the transaction had been effected and the figure quoted was the amount I could expect to receive. I was thus disappointed to receive an e mail on 29th April from a Drawdown Administrator at Standard Life asking me to confirm the amount of the tax free lump I wished to take. During a further exchange of e mails, it became clear that there had been no progress made by Standard Life to process my request and further, that contrary to the impression given at the time of my telephone conversation, the figure quoted was not the amount I could expect to receive. When the adviser mentioned the 8 – 10 days, she intended to state that this was the normal time that Standard Life takes to effect the sale of units from their fund to provide sufficient cash to pay the tax free lump sum. By this time the value of units in the fund had dropped significantly and the amount I could expect as a tax free sum had fallen by over £2,000. At this point I immediately asked Standard Life not to sell any of my fund until such time as I had chance to consider my option. I felt very strongly that it was poor practice for Standard Life to take 8 - 10 days to process a simple sale of units in my pension fund and wrote to them to complain about the lengthy period during which they expected me to absorb the risk that the market could move adversely. At this point Standard Life did advise me that another option was available to transfer some of my funds into a cash fund. This process only took 1 – 2 days (not 8 – 10) and thus was a significant reduction in the risk of market movement but it is not an option that Standard Life make their customers aware of. Notwithstanding the poor quality of advice I received from Standard Life, when I complained, their Customer Complaints Department concluded that I had been made aware that the value of the investments could fall. I contend that I believed that this statement only referred to the 75% of my fund that I was not taking as a tax free lump sum. As I was unhappy with Standard Life’s conclusion, I complained to the Financial Ombudsman Service (“FOS”) on 16th May. The FOS initially agreed that the Standard Life advice was misleading and stated that “I’ve listened to the recording of the call where you made the request to take the tax free cash amount. The adviser tells you what the amount would be based on its value on that day. And she confirms your understanding that the value of your remaining investment can go up as well as down on a daily basis. But I don’t think the payment process was made clear enough to you. It’s confirmed towards the end of the call that you wanted to withdraw the tax free cash amount, which the adviser explained “is the £149,986.” She didn’t mention on that occasion that this figure was based on that day’s value. She went on to say: “In terms of the payment, it will normally take eight to ten working days for the money to be in your bank account.” I think this gives the impression that the payment had been put in motion. It wasn’t explained that it can actually take eight to ten working days before the money is even sent. So you won’t have been aware that during this period, the tax free cash amount would still be invested and exposed to market risk. You were told that Standard Life might require additional documentation to verify your bank account details. But then later in the call you were told you’d passed the verification check and nothing more was needed from you at that time. I think it was reasonable for you to come away from this part of the call with the impression you were going to receive £149,986 into your account within eight to ten working days. I don’t think that at any point during the call it’s specifically explained to you that you weren’t guaranteed the value of that day. Or that the amount you’d eventually receive might be lower or higher due to fluctuations in the market as it would stay invested until the verification checks were completed.” In spite of the fairly damning conclusions about the quality of the Standard Life service reached by the FOS in red above, they went on to state that “But this doesn’t mean I think you should receive the amount as it was valued on the day of his request. That’s because it’s the role of our service to put you back in the position you would’ve been in if no mistake had been made. And in my opinion, if you’d been given a better explanation of the payment process, you’d be in a similar position to the one you’re in now.” I subsequently went back to the FOS to explain that Standard Life can offer a service that limits the length of market risk exposure to 1 – 2 days but chose not to me make me aware of this but still the FOS remain adamant that I suffered no loss as a result of the poor advice. A subsequent review by a second person at the FOS reached a similar conclusion albeit for different reasons. I still feel that the service I received from Standard Life was very poor and I suspect that very few of their customers are aware of the market risk that they are expected to accept because Standard Life cannot process simple transactions within reasonable timescales. Reviewed on: 9th January 2017

Appalling advice

I had a small draw down with S Life. I received a letter from them stating October would be my last draw down as I no longer had enough funds. I had lost so much that the draw down actually finished a year earlier than originally thought. I contacted the company immediately to ask how I could withdraw the final small sum. I was told I needed a form to withdraw the cash and one would be in the post 1st class.... this form never arrived after 5 days i rang again and was told to wait another 5 days due to ‘postal problems’ form never arrived so spoke to CS yet again when I was told another was in the post but I could also fill in online and they would send me a copy. An acknowledgment to say it was received was sent to me but nothing further. Rang CS yet again and this time was told I could withdraw the small amount ONLINE! Nobody had mentioned this before. However I am still waiting for my money even after various emails plus a complaint lodged. These have all been ignored! Not sure if I will ever see my money., Reviewed on: 28th November 2022

Disgusting

24 years of pension contributions and not one penny profits from it , minus 999 pound to be exact , terrible performance , would recommend to avoid at all costs , total disappointment and left me very angry Reviewed on: 25th October 2022

What a waste!

My employers selected Standard Life to manage their workplace pension, so we didn't have a say. During the 7 years that my pension contributions have been invested with them, they have lost value. I would rather have had the benefit of the money in my pay packet, as once inflation is taken into account, I am worse off. I wish I had never opted in to this scheme. Reviewed on: 21st October 2022

Lost pension payments

Standard Life are the worse company to deal with. They paid my pension into the wrong bank account, it was rejected and sent back to them and then didn’t respond to any of my requests to understand where the money went. They told me it had been paid into the correct bank account and for a month repeated this until finally someone confirmed it was their error. I still have not received the payment 6 weeks later. They don’t respond to phone calls, pass you around to different departments and their standard excise is it’s the back office’s fault (who don’t have phones)! Avoid this company at all cost. Reviewed on: 30th June 2022

Administration a Catalogue of Errors

Early last month I cashed in my Premium Bonds and paid it into my stakeholder plan. My employer pays into the pension by Direct Debit and I pay into the account by BACS through salary sacrifice. I had no direct debit set up to my bank account. In the middle of the month I transferred from a stakeholder to an active pension. Straightforward, you would think. On 31 May Standard Life refunded the money I had paid in by cashing my premium bond. I therefore lost the chance of winning a prize on these bonds and I also had an investment loss. They also took £820 out of my personal bank account for reasons the cannot explain. They also cancelled my employers direct debit so I have lost this investment too. I have called them today - 9 days after the catalogue of errors occurred - and they still have no clue how it happened and how to rectify it. Due to their complete incompetence, I am seriously worried about my investment. Reviewed on: 9th June 2022

Appauling - Lost 5K in 2 Weeks

Thanks to Standard Life investing in a terminated fund, my money is at risk. Their service is appauling, their complaint investigation is floored and as soon as whats left of my pension is accessible, I will be moving to another company. Take my advice, DO NOT USE Standard Life, and if you are already doing so, take action to transfer your investment somewhere else. Reviewed on: 13th May 2022

HORRENDOUS , OBSTRUCTIVE PENSIONS OMBUDSMEN AND COURT ACTION NOW PROGRESSING

Once a trusted company now ,something is not right , obstructive in allowing me to withdraw my fund, delays of weeks when a fund should have immediate access, these funds were to finance supplies to the Polish Border for the Ukraine Conflict , even had the nerve to suggest I should not be withdrawing my own money to help people , These guys are simply trying to obstruct and delay withdrawals so make sure you research your exit as I would no longer invest with this firm , I do no trust what they say as so many lies since February this year, false promises , similar to other reviews , DONT LEAVE YOUR FUNDS WITH THEM Reviewed on: 13th April 2022

Appauling

Although quick to respond and polite in nature, getting any coherent answer even on the most basic request take many attempts. Correspondence appears to be considered in isolation without any consideration for the history of the issue raised I’ve never experienced such incompetence anywhere previously. Reviewed on: 8th April 2022

Terrible customer Service

Avoid at all costs. I have a small Drawdown pension with Standard Life and have wasted hours trying to withdraw less than 10% of this recently. Can only withdraw tax free cash online so had to phone, as I wanted some tax free & some taxable money. When I eventually got through had a 45 minute interrogation asking lots of irrelevant questions & being treated like an idiot. 5 days until I received the money, then taxed incorrectly - claimed not to have received tax code issued nearly a year ago! SO inefficient. And value has fallen like a stone despite being in low risk fund. Reviewed on: 5th March 2022

Money not paid as agreed

I been trying to collect my tax free lump sum for 1 month been told few excuses over the last couple of weeks but finally on Friday I was given another promise from Derek that the latest I could expect the money was 5 pm today ! Still no money ! Poor excuse’s each time Beware of this company something is not right I will be opening a complaint with the ombudsman regardless of the reasons soon as possible Reviewed on: 28th February 2022

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