Standard Life to offer full pensions flexibility

Standard Life has confirmed it is ready to give customers full access to the new pensions flexibility and choice which go live in April - backed by support to enable them to understand their options, online and over the phone.

Related topics:  Retirement
Rozi Jones
12th March 2015
retirement nest egg savings annuity pension

Customers will have access to their pension money in any way they choose, from full cash withdrawal to flexible drawdown and access to an annuities panel for a guaranteed income option. Customers can use intuitive online models to ‘play’ with different scenarios, helping them to fully understand the impact and things they need to consider before making decisions.

From April, customers bringing their pension pots to Standard Life for the purposes of drawing cash or income can typically expect to pay a single annual management charge of 1%. This is a ‘bundled’ charge, which includes the cost of the underlying pension product, investment solution, online and telephone administration services and retirement roadshows. There are no additional charges for full encashment of funds.

Standard Life has also created a well-resourced Expert Centre. Qualified UK-based experts can guide or advise customers through their options over the phone with a personalised service based around their own circumstances.

The Centre is fully integrated with the online service and provides initial support to help customers work out which retirement options are right for them; full support to set up the customer’s chosen option; and ongoing access to expert support for customers who remain invested, with the option of regular plan reviews to help customers stay on track. Standard Life will also run regular retirement road shows to give customers the opportunity to meet experts face-to-face.

Jamie Jenkins, Standard Life Head of Pensions Strategy, said:

“We already had the products in place to enable customers to benefit from the new freedoms. For example, we manage 57,000 income drawdown policies worth £11bn, paying out more than £370m of income a year to our customers.

“This has meant we’ve been able to focus on delivering the right support to ensure customers engage with and understand their options. While the new regulations give customers greater control and flexibility around how they access their benefits, the increased choice adds complexity. Customers need to fully understand the impact and what they need to consider before they can be confident that they are making the right choice. To complement the Government’s Pension Wise initiative, we’re providing integrated online and phone support, taking every opportunity to make the information real and relevant.”

Mary Harper, Standard Life Head of Customer & Digital Marketing, said:

“We’ve worked with experts based in the US who specialise in translating complexity to develop a new, user-friendly online journey and tools to engage customers with the choices available to them and enable them to transact. It has been developed using a test and learn approach with customers and will continue to evolve and adapt based on actual customer behaviour.”

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