Our plan
We’re proposing to transfer a small number of policies, which are provided by Phoenix Life Limited (Phoenix Life) and branded Standard Life, to a company in abrdn Group called abrdn Life and Pensions Limited (abrdn Life).
Why are these policies being transferred?
The type of policies we plan to transfer are usually held by pension scheme trustees as a way of investing in certain funds provided by Phoenix Life. Much of the day to day running and management of these policies is already with abrdn Group companies. We want to simplify the way things work for holders of this type of policy as well as for their advisers, and the transfer will result in abrdn Life being responsible for all aspects of these policies.
Together with abrdn, we’ve been planning to carry out this transfer for some time. It is one of a number of changes agreed between Phoenix Group and abrdn Group in 2021 to simplify their strategic partnership.
We’ve written to anyone who has a policy affected by our plans. Most Standard Life pension schemes are unaffected by this transfer.
If your pension scheme trustee holds a policy that is impacted by our proposal
Your pension arrangements and the way they are managed will stay the same. Your trustee and scheme administrator will not change. Any payments that you make into your pension will not be affected and the value of your pension scheme’s investments will not change as a result of the transfer.
We have written to the small number of trustees that are impacted and if the transfer affects your pension scheme in some way, your scheme trustee may have directed you to this website.
We’ve created a specific Transfer Guide for pension scheme members whose trustee holds a policy impacted by the transfer, which includes Q&As. You can find this in the table of important documents section below.
What will happen, when?
We must follow a rigorous legal and regulatory process to make sure policyholders’ interests are protected. This involves:
- discussions with our regulators, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority, about out plans,
- appointing an Independent Expert to carry out an independent review of our plans, and
- asking the High Court in London to approve our plans.
At the same time as the transfer, abrdn Life plan to make some other changes for policyholders with these types of policies. This is to align their management of the transferring policies with the policies that they already manage. We’ve explained what this means for policyholders in their letter and you can also read about this in the Transfer Guide. A sample of these documents can be found in the table of important documents section below.
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Important documents
Policies transferring
Example Letter
Example of letter sent to those customers with a policy to be transferred
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Policies not transferring
Most policies will not transfer and will not be affected by the transfer. We have written to a very small number of Trustee Investment Plan and Corporate Fund Investment Policy holders who are impacted by the proposal. These policies will not be transferred but will temporarily be affected by the transfer process.
Transfer guide
Guide for other Phoenix customers who don't have a Standard Life policy.
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Pension scheme information
The transferring policies are typically held by trustees of pension schemes. We have created a sample letter for pension scheme members. A tailored guide for members is also available.
Legal and technical documents
Questions about the transfer?
If you have any questions about our plan to transfer some of our policies to abrdn Life, you can get in touch with us by filling in a web form below or by writing to us. You might also find the answer to your question in one of the Transfer Guides.
You may also want to chat with your Trustee or adviser if you have one.
Online form
Write to us
If you don't want to complete the online form, you can write to us:
Standard Life Transfer Team
PO Box 24257
Edinburgh
EH1 9AX