Scottish Widows Personal Pension Plan (PO-19981)

Ombudsman’s Determination

Outcome

I do not uphold Mr R’s complaint and no further action is required by Scottish Widows.

Complaint summary

Mr R complains that Scottish Widows has interpreted the Plan policy provisions incorrectly, by refusing to allow the pension commencement lump sum (PCLS) available to him on retirement and the lifetime allowance charge, to be taken entirely from the unit-linked investments held in the Plan. He contends that Scottish Widows is therefore improperly preventing him from using the whole of his investment in the with-profits fund, to purchase an annuity using the favourable Guaranteed Annuity Rate (GAR) available to him in the Plan.