Scottish Widows Pension Site Changes (old site closing in September)

P1Fanatic

Did anyone else get a recent email from Scottish Widows subject "Accessing your pension online"? It states that from 11th September 2023 they are changing how you access your workplace pension plan online. Typically they use names such as "CS online services" and "Employee Digital Services" to differentiate between old and new websites, but never actually give you the URL for either - just a registration link.

Personally I have two logins:

1) https://secure.scottishwidows.co.uk/frame.wpl/839
2) https://personal.secure.scottishwidows.co.uk/login/

#1 is the old site and that seems to be far more useful when checking things like unit history, pension value by date etc which I cant find on the #2 the "new" site. The only benefit of the new site is you can set your nominee.

I am interested to hear if others find the new website more restrictive? I've fed my issues back to their CS team but judging by the standard of their replies so far I dont hold out much hope.

dunstonh

It is not uncommon for the providers to have configuration and functionality restricted on new sites/software initially and then open it up more in stages once they know it is working.   That way, they avoid doing a TSB/Aegon.  Running both side by side for a period also helps.

P1Fanatic

dunstonh said:

It is not uncommon for the providers to have configuration and functionality restricted on new sites/software initially and then open it up more in stages once they know it is working.   That way, they avoid doing a TSB/Aegon.  Running both side by side for a period also helps.

I'm pretty sure the new site has been running for over a year now and I haven't noticed anything added to it. I just checked the app in case there is more there but seems even more limited.

Prism

I prefer the new version. The old one was ok at first but then quite a bit of the functionality broke (for me), such as changing funds.

The historical values I find of limited use.

ex-pat_scot

i've had both logins for several years.
I much prefer the "old" one, even as it's much clunkier.
There's much more information available on the old version, and it was up to date (the new one always seemed a day out of date)

kinger101

The new Scottish Widows site is pants.  The new one lets you switch investments, but you have to divert new and old in the same proportions.  Not a major issue for most people but the fact everyone else can manage that slight level of complexity either reflects their ineptitude or apathy towards their customers.


I wouldn't hold my breath on getting any improved functionality.

The black horse is ready for the glue factory/budget lasagne.

P1Fanatic

Coming back to this as the old site finally died (or is now not showing anything when I login) about a month ago. I can't believe how basic the new one is in comparison. So far I have noticed the following missing:

1) My current AMC rate % - this is especially important as I have just been TUPE'd into a new company and will leave my old pension in place due to a lower AMC (new company also uses SW but has a higher AMC) so I would like to monitor that my AMC does not change when I no longer pay into into my old pension, or that if it increases I may then want to transfer my pension out.

2) No option to see what my AMC charges were & when charged each month - my old company had a very low AMC of 0.2% but this was paid as a refund each month (additional units allocated). Now I cant see this.

3) No option to view my pension value on a previous date - this was very useful for plotting pension growth / trends

4) No option to view my unit allocation on a previous date - sometimes my pension payments from my employer take a lot longer to appear in my payment history. I was advised this is just a reporting glitch so it was useful to see when actually my payment allocated more units into my pot.

I would have thought that 1) and 2) are a minimum requirement by law - otherwise how are customers able to verify that they have been correctly charged by SW?

I've emailed SW asking about all these points but I don't hold out much hope of answers / changes. Thinking of next steps - which regulatory body could I engage to check on rights in regards to displaying charges, showing charge dates, values etc?

Thanks

dunstonh

I would have thought that 1) and 2) are a minimum requirement by law - otherwise how are customers able to verify that they have been correctly charged by SW?

SW will provide an annual cost and charges disclosure saying what the charges were over the previous 12 months.

The older SW contracts had the default AMC built into the unit price.  If you had a discounted AMC, they would rebate the difference and buy units.   The newer SW contracts are either explicitly charged at provider level or only offered on default terms with no discounting (as there is no bundling of charges any more) - the default terms are cheaper than the older contracts.

Thinking of next steps - which regulatory body could I engage to check on rights in regards to displaying charges, showing charge dates, values etc?

None.   The FCA don't handle consumer enquiries and the FOS are an independent arbiter of complaints.    You can read up on the requirements online if you wish.   But an annual ex ante disclosure is the requirement and that is what SW will provide.

cloud_dog

@P1Fanatic, I am somewhat aghast at the lack of functionality provided by the (new) SW portal.  I only started using this SW scheme from June this year, but in my opinion the portal does not even meet a standard as a minimum viable product!

I cannot see what charges are taken, what the unit prices are for the investments made.

I have commented on my annoyance / frustration with the situation to SW; not that I have any expectation of any changes.  I have decided to implement regular partial transfers out for the time being.

One nice thing I have uncovered with SW and transfers out is that you do not need to specify whether it is a partial or full transfer, and in fact you can transfer out all of the monies in the account and the account will remain open for 3 months.  If further deposits are made within those 3 months the account will continue as normal.  If no further deposits are made, the account will be close unless the account has a balance of £2 or more.

Importantly, this is what I have confirmed for my workplace scheme with SW and have no knowledge as to whether this is common across SW workplace / DC schemes or not. 

P1Fanatic

This was the response I received from SW Customer Service:

[quote]Unfortunately, through the new portal this function is no longer available.

I know this is frustrating, but you do have the option to email or call us and request this at any point. We can arrange to send this via email or post.

In the future this may be something that is available, as the business is always looking to improve for our members[/quote]

So any time you want to verify something you need to call / email them asking you to send it. That sounds feasible.