Standard Life UK Reviews 

Their customer service isn't perfect but credit where it's due ,they do get things sorted out eventually.

I tried to access my account last Thursday, to see various past documents, and all I was offered was the opportunity to alter my security details. I sent a message about this via FaceBook, and received the following reply:
"We do currently have an issue with Bulk Purchase Annuity plans not showing online, however, a fix is planned for this tonight and should resolve the issue.
Social Media Team"
The following day showed no improvement. Meanwhile I have had two messages, one on Thursday and one on Friday both giving me Standard Life verification codes. What am I supposed to do with them? The website also says "log in to send us a secure message". Having logged in there seems to be no option to do this. I am very frustrated by this, which I believe has happened before.

Filled out my application form last Sunday for a pension plan I received an email from Standard Life saying I would receive my welcome pack through the post including my log in details & password to log into the app, I’ve since received an email saying there is a important message to read in the app however I’ve not received anything in the post so I can’t log into the app to read the document. Not very impressive so far it’s been a week now, I’m not sure I can trust a company with my pension money if it takes this long to post my documents….

Standard life have been nothing but hardwork since my mum passed away. She had 2 plans with them and it’s been months of chasing to take my mums money back that she paid into this! Mum had another pension with Nest who processed and sent the money over within 7 days, we are now 4 months of chasing with Standard life. It’s hard having to keep dragging up the matter that mum has passed away everytime we chase them! Now they are just point blank not replying to us. We was told 14 days over a month ago for the funds to be realised and now they are just not replying! Awful service considering the circumstances! … To add, even after the reply to the email sent as stated below, still heard NOTHING since!

Arranged to transfer an old employer pension into my SL pension. Did it all online through my SL account. Transfer happened significantly quicker than the quoted SLA

I needed to query a few pension related issues. My call was answered quickly and all issues were understood and the information I needed was given.

I transferred over more than half my pot to consolidate with SL, largely because their website and fund information is so much better than another General pension provider. The transfer was both easy and fast with good comms (from both parties tbf) thanks to the inter-company system the big boys use.
Happy to put all my eggs on the SL funds and we'll see how they do with drawdown.

Transferred another pension to Standard Life. As straightforward as I could have hope for. I'm only giving 4 stars, as I'm yet to draw from them, so I can't say how that will be yet!

This a reply the my first post (see below)
I have a Pension with Standard Life. They Website is absolutely broken.
I am waiting for they technic people are trying to fix it which is still causing them a problem
So I remain unimpressed as I still can not access or manage my pension plan. I would not recommend them.
I have not been able to find any contact details to report this problem so I have had to use a complaints for which have not had a reply to yet.
My confidence in Standard Life is at rock bottom

Transferred in a small pension. It was simple to do and was completed in a timely manner. Thanks 😀

Easy straight forward pension transfer into Standard Life Pension

Excellent experience so easy to complete no complicated process when doing transfer would highly recomend
Transfer completed within 4 weeks . Outstanding service

These people never give any updates and just say 14 days to everything. Their website is shocking and rarely works. Move your money out of here!
This company asked for more details which I provided but then you get the silence again and no basic communication. Simply shocking customer service…..

What a unprofessional organisation,

Worked for openreach for 5 years.

Been away from them for 3 years now

Called to check on the amount in my old pension and because I couldn't remember a 3 year old telephone number, they hung up on me.

They have refused to give me my old policy nunber and have said ive now lost my pension.

Im hinestly gobsmacked she hung up on me after saying you failed security so you have lost your pension!!

I remember around 18k in there as I transferred a previous pension into this one.

Will be taking this much further. Luckily I have the call recorded.

Very helpful and very quick. They got my pension moved over very quickly indeed.

Investment aspect is fine but the website seems frequently to be non-functional (such as problems signing in or pages loading so slowly they time out) and getting paperwork is slow; and then there can still be issues. In this case, I requested a statement yesterday for a mortgage application, which arrived in my secure mailbox today, but the PDF is corrupted and can't be opened. So now I'm back to chasing again, for a usable file, and it's somewhat urgent as the bank considering my mortgage application keeps asking for this, the last thing they need to proceed. Standard Life really needs to up their game on the tech side.

I have been fighting Standard Life on and off for the last few years over delays in accessing withdrawals from my Income Drawdown plan. Once your fund value exceeds a certain amount you cannot use the online platform to make withdrawals and have to call them. The online platform typically takes 5 minutes to complete the questionnaire and the money is in your bank account in less than 3 days, sometimes just hours but if you ring them you'll be on the phone for hours, be transferred to 3 different people and it then takes 4 weeks or so! I have previously raised formal complaints about this and because of this, ludicrously and counter to providing for my retirement, I have been trying to keep my funds below their limit to ensure easier access. I recently tried to make a small withdrawal using the online platform. I noticed a few new questions trying to force you to call them and thereby slow the entire process down but managed to complete my request but after a week nothing has been received. I contacted them via the app and received a reply stating that their normal turn around time is 15 to 20 working days (its 1980 again!) which is wrong for online requests and they had a few questions before they could start to process my payment. Unfortunately prior to me contacting them nobody had bothered to tell me they had questions so who knows how long I would have been waiting if I had not contacted them first, but yet again their manual intervention turns a simple process into a nightmare. So I now have to wait who knows how long for MY money. The acknowledgement to my initial withdrawal request stated "Whatever you choose to do with your money, we hope you enjoy it." Yes right, whenever they choose to give it to me! I am getting to the end of my tether with these constant battles with them. I nearly transferred everything away in 2024 so I think it is time to revisit this. Don't ever try to make plans to use your pension funds for anything specific or within a certain timescale because it will be guaranteed that Standard Life will screw that up. I was a Pensions Adviser and IFA for 35 years and back then I used to actually recommend Standard Life to clients but now how the mighty have fallen.

Standard life have supposedly been dealing with a transfer of pension for me. They have provided email updates through the app reassuring me they have completed the necessary paperwork but apparently they haven’t done this. After I raised the issue they then submitted the paperwork with the wrong reference and information causing even further delay and issues.
I have still not completed the pension transfer and I am unsure what is happening as the email updates I receive do not match with the actions taken.

Absolutely appalling service. 10+ weeks of delays, excuses, and obstruction.
Standard Life told my mother her pension withdrawal would take 15 days to process. It has now been over 10 weeks.
We completed the withdrawal over the phone, submitted all requested ID documents, and were then left in limbo. Because we live in New Zealand, the only way to call is at 11pm NZ time, which is difficult for my mother. Despite repeatedly registering me as someone authorised to speak on her behalf, every time I call I’m told they “need to speak to the account holder” and we’re forced to go through the same exhausting process again.
Email support is a lottery. Sometimes they reply, sometimes they don’t. Today the website is completely down, so there is literally no way to contact them at all.
After seven weeks of silence, giving them the benefit of the doubt over Christmas and New Year, I emailed asking what the delay was. Their response? No apology. No accountability. Just a blunt message saying a “key document was missing” — a document we were never asked for. They made no attempt to contact us, no follow-up, no notification. They simply sat back and waited for us to chase them. If we’d been asked for it at the time of processing we could have provided this. Almost like they wanted an excuse to delay further down the line.
We sent the document immediately and explicitly asked to be kept updated. That was three weeks ago. Total radio silence since.
In the meantime, the exchange rate is dropping. Their negligence is actively costing my mother money while they sit on funds that do not belong to them, continuing to take fees. And before anyone trots out the line about “long-term performance,” this fund has underperformed the market for years while charging thousands in fees. So no, that excuse doesn’t fly.
I used to roll my eyes when my mum said years ago that Standard Life were dragging their feet and “playing games” when she tried to access her own money. Having now dealt with them directly, I owe her a massive apology. She was right.
This is not just slow service, it’s obstruction, indifference, and a complete lack of respect for customers. A pathetic disgrace of a company. Avoid at all costs.

Financial Ombudsman is being contacted today.