How we manage our with profits fund

Annual report to With-Profits Policyholders

The Board of Scottish Widows Limited are responsible for the running of the With Profits Fund. You can view or download our Annual Report (PDF, 2MB) to With-Profits Policyholders. This shows that we manage our business in line with the Principles and Practices of Financial Management (PPFM) and summarises the steps we have taken to ensure that we continue to do this and treat customers fairly. It also contains the With-Profits Actuary's statement on the management of the with-profits business.

With-Profits Committee

We’re committed to treating all of our customers fairly. To help us do this we have a With-Profits Committee. The responsibility of the Committee is to provide an independent view on the management and operations of the with-profits business. The Committee reviews how the With Profits Fund is managed and scrutinises any major proposal that affects the fund. The Committee meets separately from and provides advice to the Scottish Widows Limited Board.

The Committee has four members, none of whom have any management or executive role with the company (or our parent company, Lloyds Banking Group). Two members are non-executive directors. For further information about what the With-Profits Committee does, you can read the terms of reference (PDF, 101KB).

Principles and Practices of Financial Management

The Principles and Practices of Financial Management (PPFM) is a document that sets out how we manage our With Profits Fund and with-profits policies. The PPFM is a very lengthy and detailed document, so we’ve also produced ‘Your Guide to With-Profits’ which explains in less detail how your with-profits policy works.

Since our PPFM was first published on 30 April 2004, we have made some changes, mainly in response to regulatory requirements on 30 June 2005. We made further small changes on:

• 31 December 2005 (PDF, 95KB)
• 31 August 2008 (PDF, 11KB)
• 1 January 2013 (PDF, 99KB)
• 1 January 2016 (PDF, 137KB)
• 1 May 2017 (PDF, 29KB)
• 1 January 2019 (PDF, 10KB)
• 1 July 2021 (PDF, 76KB)

The most recent changes were made on 1 July 2021. Several changes were made to harmonise the criteria for changing bonus rates outside of the usual cycle across all types of payouts (i.e. those where guarantees do apply and those where guarantees don’t apply). In addition, a number of minor modifications were made to the description of smoothing of recent investment returns. Further small changes were made including an update to clarify when we may choose to close access to the Scottish Widows With Profits Fund for some or all of future premiums and for future switches from unit-linked funds.

Scheme of Transfer 2015

On 31 December 2015, changes came into effect that simplified the business of the Scottish Widows Group of companies. This involved the transfer to Clerical Medical Investment Group Limited of all the policies of certain companies in the Lloyds Banking Group (including Scottish Widows plc). Clerical Medical Investment Group Limited was then renamed Scottish Widows Limited.

The legal document that governed how that transfer was made is called a 'Scheme of Transfer'. That Scheme of Transfer now governs much of how we operate our with-profits business. It is referred to in our PPFM and some relevant extracts are included within the PPFM. If, however, you wish to read the full text, you can view and download the Scheme of Transfer 2015 (PDF, 804KB). Please note that this is a highly technical document.