About the transfer
Following a strategic review, we made the decision to simplify our business by selling our individual protection business, which includes life insurance, critical illness and income protection policies and proposing to transfer it to Royal London.
The transfer will have minimal impact on policyholders because there will be no change to their policy information. The policy conditions, policy benefits, payments, or any guarantees will all stay the same.
If the Court approves our proposal, we expect the transfer to take effect on 1 July 2024.
As part of the transfer, we closed our protection business to new customers and stopped selling new protection policies on 4 April 2023.
If your policy forms part of the individual protection business we’re proposing to transfer to Royal London, we’ll send you a letter to let you know.
No. The costs and expenses of the transfer will be paid by us and Royal London. Policyholders won’t incur any costs relating to the transfer.
If their policy is being transferred and they’re happy with the proposal, they may not need to do anything.
We created a Transfer guide that goes into more detail about what this means for policyholders in Section 3.
Royal London is the largest mutual life, pensions and investment company in the UK. It looks after 8.1 million UK policies and has £153 billion in assets under management (as at September 2023). Royal London has significant experience and expertise in managing individual protection business, as well as a commitment to supporting our values.
Find out more about Royal London.
Once the transfer is implemented and policies are transferred, policyholders will see a transition and will start receiving correspondence from Royal London in the future. The phone number will stay the same. For general queries, call 03456 00 14 02, Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5.30pm (call charges will vary).
Policies being transferred
Our proposal is to transfer our individual protection policies, which includes life insurance, critical illness and income protection policies. If our proposals are approved by the Court, the transfer is planned to go ahead on 1 July 2024.
No. They won’t need to do anything or make any changes to their direct debit arrangement.
There will be a change on the bank statement after the transfer is implemented, with premiums or any claim payments changing so they’re to or from Royal London. This will happen automatically after the transfer takes place.
As there is no change to the policy conditions, if a claim has been successful, the policyholder will continue to receive their usual benefit payment(s).
There will be a change in the bank statement, as the transaction payments will change from Scottish Equitable to Royal London.
The premiums payable under your policy, and the benefits payable to you in the event of a claim, are set out in your policy schedule which forms part of your policy. Under the terms of your policy with Scottish Equitable, both premiums and benefits are fixed for the duration of the policy, and Scottish Equitable can only increase premiums, or reduce benefits in line with what was agreed under your existing policy.
The legal framework applying to the proposed transfer does not allow any changes to be made to your policy terms and conditions by way of the transfer. This means that Royal London will not have any right to change the premiums or benefits under your policy following the transfer other than in line with your existing policy conditions. This point is set out in the report of the Independent Expert.
Once your policy is cancelled we won’t be able to restart it. You’ll no longer be covered for any protection benefits with us and we won’t be able to consider any claims.
If you have a Whole of Life policy, this type of policy is designed to pay out a lump sum benefit on your death or on earlier diagnosis of a terminal illness - as long as you continue to pay premiums and keep this policy in force. You’ll lose this lump sum if you cancel your policy.
If you choose to cancel your policy before taking out alternative cover with another provider, please be mindful of a coverage gap occurring where you won’t be covered and unable to claim. We can never predict what’s around the corner and we all hope that it will never happen to us. It’s important to be careful and explore your insurance options to make sure you’re protected.
You may need financial advice to help you identify how cancelling your policy might affect you. Financial advisers can help you identify your financial priorities and put together a plan to help you achieve them. If you’re not sure where to start or if advice is right for you, please read our articles and guides on financial advice and finding an adviser.
If you choose to cancel your policy, it won’t form part of the policies we’re proposing to transfer to Royal London.
There will be minor changes to the way policies are administered. Royal London will be the provider of the policies from the date the transfer takes effect.
For Royal London to communicate with policyholders and administer their policy, we’ll transfer all personal data to Royal London. We and Royal London will make sure the transfer is in accordance with data protection legislation. This includes making sure all personal data is kept appropriately secure.
You can find out more about how Royal London processes data by looking at its privacy policy.
No. We’re only transferring the affected protection policies. If you receive a letter from us, it will detail the policy number of the policy we’re transferring.
If you have a different policy or another product with us, these won’t be impacted and will stay with us.
Yes, policies will continue to be protected by the FSCS after the transfer in the same way they would’ve been had the policy remained with us. There’s no change to how you access FSCS protection as a result of the transfer.
We don’t expect any material impact on the service levels you currently receive as a result of the transfer.
The transferring policies are currently administered by a third party outsourcer, Atos BPS Limited, and this will continue to be the case following the transfer.
On 5 February 2024, the parent company of Atos BPS Limited, Atos SE, announced that it was in formal discussions with its lending banks with a view to agreeing a plan to refinance its financial debts. These discussions are ongoing and the outcome is not known at this stage. Atos BPS Limited’s ability to administer and service the transferring policies is not currently impacted, but should this change either before or following the proposed transfer, we and Royal London each have contingency plans in place.
Our contingency plans and those of Royal London consider a range of different events which may impact administration of the book, and are designed to ensure continuity of service is maintained. In certain circumstances this may entail a change in service provider.
On 5 February 2024, the parent company of Atos BPS Limited, Atos SE, announced that it was in formal discussions with its lending banks with a view to agreeing a plan to refinance its financial debts. These discussions are ongoing and the outcome is not known at this stage. Atos’s ability to administer and service our policies is not currently impacted, but should this change, we have a contingency plan in place to ensure continuity of service is maintained.
About the process
Our policyholders are protected by a rigorous legal process that includes consultation with the regulators, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). We, together with Royal London, also appointed an Independent Expert who has prepared a report on the transfer. The transfer then needs to be approved by the Court before it can be implemented. When considering the transfer, the Court will consider the views of policyholders, other interested parties, the Independent Expert and the regulators. Policyholders have the right to make objections to the Court if they consider they may be adversely affected by the transfer.
We’re required to follow a legal process under Part VII of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. This process requires the transfer to be approved by the Court. The Court needs to be satisfied the process for the approval of the transfer meets all the necessary legal requirements and our and Royal London’s customers aren’t materially adversely affected by the proposal.
The Court will review the evidence presented to it and consider whether it’s appropriate to approve the transfer for implementation. The Court will allocate time to hear any objections or concerns put forward by affected policyholders or any other persons who believe they’d be adversely affected by the transfer.
We’ll keep our website up to date with the latest information and the Court’s decision.
The transfer won’t go ahead, and the policies will stay with us. We’ll write to policyholders and let them know any further information at that time.
The Independent Expert, Stephen Makin, is a senior actuary and partner of consultancy firm Hymans Robertson, and has been approved by the regulators to provide an independent report on our proposal and the likely impact of the transfer on our and Royal London’s customers.
The legal process we’re following doesn’t allow for policyholders to opt out of the transfer.
If policyholders have concerns about the transfer and believe they may be adversely affected they have the right to raise an objection. The Court will take all objections into consideration when reaching its decision. The Transfer guide also goes into more detail about how to do this in Section 7.
Any type of effect on policyholders may be considered by the Court. This includes the possible effect on them of a change in the financial security of the provider of their policy or changes to the administration of their policy.
Any additional questions about the transfer should be direct to us, either by calling the transfer freephone on 0800 032 7587 or emailing protectiontransfer@aegon-service.co.uk.
If you live outside the UK, please call +44 (0) 3456 00 14 02. Calls to this number will be charged at your usual international rate.
Subject to the Court’s approval, we expect the transfer to take place on 1 July 2024. This date could change, and we’ll keep our website up to date with the latest information.