11th November 2014

Scottish Widows Update on Initial Commission

In August we announced our strategy in response to the DWP command paper. 

Last week we hit the first of the key milestones outlined in that announcement. As of 3rd November, we’ve ceased to pay initial commission on our current suite of products.

Since the original announcement on 7th August, many advisers have worked hard to push through pipeline business to ensure it reached us in advance of this cut-off date. For any transfer where we’ve received money from the ceding scheme on or before 31st October then initial commission will still be payable and will show on your November statement. If the money has not reached us until after the cut-off date, then, unfortunately, we are not able to pay initial commission. 

We've been listening
Since our initial announcement we’ve listened to intermediaries from right across our network and the consistent feedback has been that initial commission on transfer business is critical. Based directly on your feedback we took the decision to reinstate our commission facility specifically for Transfer business. This facility will go live in mid January 2015.

What does that mean for you?

• Any transfer applications submitted between now and mid January will not receive any initial commission payments where the money is received before we switch the commission back on.
• When initial commission is reinstated it will be on the same terms as previously agreed.
• There will be no alteration in commission levels when we apply the DWP charge cap to schemes in April 2015.

Find out more

Next steps 

Click Find out more to download our DWP ‘frequently asked questions’ or speak to your Account Manager if you have questions about how this impacts you.

Retirement