Write a review

Standard Life: Pensions reviews

Name: Pensions
Rating: 2.35 (60 reviews)

View other Standard Life products

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

Read all reviews See your review

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

No longer understand my investment

At one time my pension performed well, was managed well and then suddenly I was pushed/forced toward a different solution and that is no longer the case. The website is easy in some areas and incomprehensible in others. Previously it had been easy to navigate and understand. Reviewed on: 17th February 2022

Poor Customer Support

The company are more intent on showing me what they want me to see rather than what I need to see to inflate how well my pension is performing. The new system is cumbersome and frustrating. Performance on the pension is average, customer service well below. Reviewed on: 10th February 2022

Terrible customer service "Megan Jackson" Causing alarm and stress. I lost trust in you.

After half an hour of the waiting line she has told me my details is incorrect, and I need to contact my workplace to update my details to walk out from the pension plan. She refused to tell me why my details were wrong. When I asked to contact the manager. She kept me 5 minutes waiting and then she said that she has some technical difficulties and took my number and told me that the manager is going to contact me. I never heard back. That's my second time to call them the first time I phoned on 03-Feb, and they advised me to call on the next day because they need one day window to update my details. I lost trust in you! I phoned them again thanks to Anthony who eventually sorted it. If you want to investigate further listen to the call on 04-Feb from 3:00 pm to 3:30 pm. Reviewed on: 4th February 2022

Poor Customer Support

I used to love the support I received and the old web portal gave me everything I needed in one place, the new website is way too complex and impossible to manipulate my preferences to show me the options I`m interested in rather than what the company want to show me. Good pension performance, shocking customer service. Reviewed on: 6th January 2022

Great service

A good profesional company with helpful and knowlegeable advisors. Reviewed on: 2nd October 2021

Pathetic over complex website

How difficult do you think this company can make the simple process of entering someone's name address and date of birth on a website page. Here is my latest communication with Standard Life. Thank you for explaining that to get past the 4th line on this form I have to first, enter a selected country on the 8th line which effectively negative the input require on the 4th line namely the UK postcode? That is so obvious! How do you make a process of entering someone's name, address, DOB on a webpage so bloody difficult?? Another blindingly stupid situation is that now to establish whether by beneficiary's details are entered correctly in your appalling website, I have the option of "editing" the names beneficiaries. However, having chosen to do this I am given the options to "cancel"or to "Add a Beneficiary", there is no facility to actually EDIT/VIEW THAT WHICH HAS BEEN PREVIOUSLY ENTERED! So in fact there is no facility to "EDIT at all! So seeing that I can not view what information you have previously accepted as details of my named beneficiary on this pathetic excuse for a financial website, would kindly inform me as to what information is contained on this website regarding my previously stated beneficiary? Thank You . Reviewed on: 31st March 2021

Pathetic website

My latest message to S. Life regarding the torture of naming a beneficiary of my pension plan. Thank you for explaining that to get past the 4th line on this form I have to first, enter a selected country on the 8th line which effectively negative the input require on the 4th line namely the UK postcode? That is so obvious! How do you make a process of entering someone's name, address, DOB on a webpage so bloody difficult?? Another blindingly stupid situation is that now to establish whether by beneficiary's details are entered correctly in your appalling website, I have the option of "editing" the names beneficiaries. However, having chosen to do this I am given the options to "cancel"or to "Add a Beneficiary", there is no facility to actually EDIT/VIEW THAT WHICH HAS BEEN PREVIOUSLY ENTERED! So in fact there is no facility to "EDIT at all! So seeing that I can not view what information you have previously accepted as details of my named beneficiary on this pathetic excuse for a financial website, would kindly inform me as to what information is contained on this website regarding my previously stated beneficiary? Thank You . Reviewed on: 31st March 2021

Tried and Trusted

Standard Life have made a great job of managing my pension fund over the years, and as I chose ethical funds I know that my money is being used as a force for good. Reviewed on: 27th February 2021

Negative rating cannot be recorded which is what is deserved

Awful company and complete theft of my With Profits pension despite knowing of the Equitable Life problems years ago with similar funds. Also theft of my AVCs not in any contract to pay my GMP pension which was substantially under funded due to fat bonuses paid out to the senior management. Cannot and must not be trusted for any sensible financial mangement products. there are lots better elsewhere. Reviewed on: 25th July 2020

Awful

My father paid in £25000 into his standard life pension in 2005. Over the course of 15 years the pension fund actually lost money. They have since made it unnecessarily complicated to withdraw the funds. Keep your money in the bank. The brokers at standard life must be using fisher price trading platforms. Reviewed on: 22nd July 2020

Do you have a different Standard Life 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 Vanguard 5.00 from 5 reviews
Pension
from LV (Liverpool Victoria) 5.00 from 2 reviews
Pension
from SAUL 0.00 from 0 reviews

There's still more to see!

Standard Life has a range of products available. Check the ratings of each product to find the right one for you. 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

Standard Life: Pensions reviews

No new 5 star reviews

No new 1 star reviews

Latest highest rating:

5

Latest lowest rating:

2

About this product

Standard Life Pensions reviews (60)

Poor service re tax free lump sum

No longer understand my investment

Poor Customer Support

Terrible customer service "Megan Jackson" Causing alarm and stress. I lost trust in you.

Poor Customer Support

Great service

Pathetic over complex website

Pathetic website

Tried and Trusted

Negative rating cannot be recorded which is what is deserved

Awful

Do you have a different Standard Life product?

There's still more to see!

Join Smart Money People

News, guides and insight from our team

UK money news stories - 24 July 2024

Your Money, Your Voice: Have your say

Our latest research - customers see little impact of FCA's Consumer Duty one year on

Consumer credit awards winners 2024