Scottish Widows Pension - Units disappeared overnight

Golactico

I have a Civil Service AVC pension account with Scottish Widows. I have not been actively making contributions to this account for about 18 months but I generally check the fund value online on a daily basis. I know that the markets aren’t great at the moment but I was shocked to find today that approximately 9% had been wiped off the value of my pension fund in the 24hrs since I checked yesterday. On a closer look, this wasn’t down to a drop in the unit value, but the fact that somehow the actual number of units shown on my account had dramatically dropped overnight by about 9%. I was very concerned to find that the significant drop in number of units was also showing when I put historical dates in to the online system. I know for a fact (because I updated my own pension spreadsheet) that when I checked yesterday (13 Nov), the SW online system showed that I had 10622.01 units, but today the number of units shows on that date is 9717.49. – 900+ units have simply disappeared. I am under 55 so couldn’t have withdrawn from the fund even if I had wanted to.

Needless to say, I have been on to SW to ask what on earth is going on. SW said they will investigate and get back to me (in 10-12 days!), but as I have a limited knowledge of how these sort of investments work, I was just wondering if anyone more knowledgeable could offer any conceivable explanation for what has happened, other than that SW have made a huge error of some sort? As further info (and to prove that I’m not simply mistaken as to how many units I had), my April 2018 pension statement shows that I had 10593.72 units, yet today I find I have only 9717.49 – is there any rational explanation as to why this might be?

Many thanks for any opinions.

HappyHarry

It will be either of;
1. System error that will be resolved by SW
2. Fund change, where the unit numbers have updated but the price per unit hasn't updated yet.

My bet is on the first option.

Don't worry, you haven't lost any funds. It'll just be a temporary glitch in SW's system

Update There is also a similar issue on one of our platforms. Out of interest, what funds are you invested in? Maybe it's a fund reporting issue rather than a SW issue.

Golactico

Thanks for your response - that gives me a measure of reassurance, although I won't be happy until I see for myself that all has been restored to how it should be.

I'm invested in Scottish Widows Pension Portfolio Three Series 2

dunstonh

SW website is a disaster. It is one of the most unreliable for online services. You don't choose to be with Scottish Widows nowadays. Only if it is a necessity to be with them.

A lot of the pricing for website is done via price feeds supplied by Financial Express or Morningstar. Rather than using internal systems. Sometimes the price for certain funds gets mixed up.

Golactico

dunstonh wrote: »

SW website is a disaster. It is one of the most unreliable for online services. You don't choose to be with Scottish Widows nowadays. Only if it is a necessity to be with them.

A lot of the pricing for website is done via price feeds supplied by Financial Express or Morningstar. Rather than using internal systems. Sometimes the price for certain funds gets mixed up.

The Civil Service are in the process of transferring new and existing AVC business from SW (and Standard Life) to a new single provider - Legal & General. I can't say I'll be sorry to be saying goodbye to SW - but I hope they get my policy in order before it's transferred to L&G!

dunstonh

The Civil Service are in the process of transferring new and existing AVC business from SW (and Standard Life) to a new single provider - Legal & General.

Just as Legal & General are about to sell the bulk of their book to ReAssure. I don't know if workplace schemes are included but L&G is nearly as out of date as SW.

Golactico

dunstonh wrote: »

Just as Legal & General are about to sell the bulk of their book to ReAssure. I don't know if workplace schemes are included but L&G is nearly as out of date as SW.

Terrific. Where are those frying pan and fire emojis when you need them?