How it works

Read the following report from the lang cat which uses client case studies to show the impact of charges on the lifetime costs of investing.

The Lang Cat Report - How we compare (PDF, 2MB)
(Scottish Widows is not responsible for the content of this document)

• We have one clear and straightforward Service Charge. We  won’t charge you for any additional transactions, so you can service your clients’ changing needs without worrying about additional cost.
• This charge is tiered, which means it’s straightforward to explain and better value for your clients. It’s calculated as a percentage of the total value of the Account, which reduces as the value increases and is deducted monthly.
• These rates apply for new applications, and may change in future.

To support you in delivering great outcomes for your clients we can offer ‘Family Pricing’ as an option for Retirement Account. This can help you provide even better value for money for your clients and their families and support your intergenerational planning conversations.

What is Family Pricing?

• Family Pricing can apply to direct family members (i.e. spouse or partner, parents, grandparents, children and grandchildren).
• Where more than one of these clients takes out a Retirement Account, we can aggregate the value of all the Accounts and charge a Service Charge based on the total. To qualify for Family Pricing the aggregate value of Accounts must be at least £100,000 at the time the new Account is opened.
• This may result in your clients and their families receiving a lower Service Charge than they would individually.

How does it work?

• The Family Pricing Service Charge will apply to new Retirement Accounts only. However the aggregate value of all Retirement Accounts will be taken into account to determine this charge.
• Once implemented, the Service Charge is fixed. It will not change if the Account(s) value goes up or down.
• For Family Pricing the top tier is £500k and above at a rate of 0.2%, i.e. the standard tier of 0.1% for £1m and above does not apply to accounts that are linked for Family Pricing.

An example – Jim and Jane

• Jim and his partner Jane each set up a new Retirement Account

• The Family Pricing Service charge only applies to new Retirement Accounts. So in this case applies to both Jim and Jane’s Retirement Account.
• If either Account was already in place, the value would be taken into account when aggregating the values to determine the charge, but the Family Pricing Service Charge would only apply to the new plan, with the existing plan continuing at the existing rate.

To find out more about Family Pricing speak to your Scottish Widows Relationship Manager or contact us on 0345 610 9572.

• Linked Pricing builds on the Family Pricing concept, allowing you to aggregate Accounts in order to potentially achieve a lower service charge for new clients.
• Linked Pricing enables you to group Accounts together to determine the service charge for the Accounts. Accounts can be grouped either by each policy holder having the same employer or being advised by same adviser firm, but all accounts must be new.
• For Linked Pricing the top tier is £500k and above at a rate of 0.2%, i.e. the standard tier of 0.1% for £1m and above does not apply to accounts that are joined together for Linked Pricing.

• Our family of three risk rated multi-asset portfolio fund ranges offer investment at only  0.1%*, 0.2%* and 0.4%*. They make Retirement Account suitable for a wide range of clients and can help you provide a fully advised proposition for less than 1%.
• Other charges depend on the investments you choose and can include charges made by fund managers, Discretionary Fund Managers, the Share Dealing provider, and a property management charge. Other charges and expenses can apply – for example professional fees and certain third party administration costs.

For more information on our investment options visit here.

*Current Total Annual Fund Charges. This may change in the future. 

• This covers the cost of the initial, ongoing or one-off advice and services that you provide to your client.
• Your client can ask us to stop, start or change the adviser charges at any time. It's simple to do this and can be arranged using this form (PDF, 777KB) and emailed to this mailbox along with email confirmation from your client.

For more details on remuneration options, see our Adviser Technical Guide (PDF, 3MB)

The Control Account acts as a clearing and transactional account for all payments made to and from the Retirement Account.

• You and your client can access the Control Account(s) online (your client will have read-only access).
• The Control Account(s) are not designed for long term investment. We invest money from Control Accounts in a range of instant access and deposit accounts.
• If a Control Account has a positive balance, it may receive positive balance adjustments, see below for further information including current and previous rates.
• Should a Deferred Charge occur (which happens if your client has a negative balance), each day it cannot be collected from the Control Account the Deferred Charge will increase. The rate of increase is currently 5.25% each year. For more details, including an explanation of the Deferred Charge, see our Adviser Technical Guide (PDF, 3MB)

Current Positive Balance Adjustments

From 19 May 2025, Scottish Widows are currently adding monthly Positive Balance Adjustments at a rate equivalent to 2.00% each year to customers’ Control Accounts that hold a positive balance. This means that for every £100 held in Control Account we’ll pay you £2.00 in positive balance adjustment.

This is based on the expectation that we will earn interest at a rate between 3.00 and 3.55%.
 

Previous Positive Balance Adjustments and Charges

The table below shows the yearly equivalent rates of Positive Balance Adjustments applied to customers’ Control Accounts that had a positive balance in previous periods. It also shows the details of the yearly equivalent rates of interest retained (‘Control Account Charge’) by Scottish Widows in those periods.

About Positive Balance Adjustments

Where interest is paid to us, each month we’ll add part of it to your Control Account(s) if you had a positive balance in that month. We call this a ‘positive balance adjustment’. The table below shows the yearly equivalent rates of Positive Balance Adjustments we expect to pay based on a range of possible yearly interest rates.
 

The maximum amount of interest that Scottish Widows will retain is the equivalent of 2% per year.

We've developed a range of tools and calculators to support you in reviewing your clients' Retirement Account plans.

Whilst our Retirement Account Recommendation Tool can help you explain to your client why you’re recommending Retirement Account, you can use it to produce a client suitability letter.

We’ve also got useful investment Tools and Calculators. Our Fund Search tool helps you compare and analyse funds, and keep track of their performance. 

Use our tools and calculators