Frequently asked questions

We believe that by transferring our existing customers to our digital service Retiready will give you a better experience of managing your retirement savings. You'll have complete control when it's convenient for you and it will also make it easier for us to support you.

  • You'll pay lower charges with a Retiready pension:
    • Our Retiready charges are clear and simple.
    • There's no set up or transfer fee.
  • You can instantly see the value of your Retiready savings - we update the value on a daily basis.
  • You can set goals and track the progress of your retirement savings. 
  • You can access all your personalised documents and any statements in your online document library.
  • You can even add the value of retirement savings held elsewhere to give you a complete picture of how on track you are for retirement.

Yes. Once you've activated your new Retiready account, you can start making regular or lump sum contributions to your Retiready pension. It's easy. When you log in, simply follow the steps on the savings page, register your bank details when prompted, and set up your preferred payments.

Payments to Retiready can only be personal payments, we're not able to accept third-party/employer contributions. 

If you set up and start paying regular or one-off contributions to your Retiready pension, you won’t be able to ask us to move your pension funds back to your Aegon pension. Paying regular or one-off contributions to your Retiready pension demonstrates that you're happy with the transfer to Retiready. Please see our returns policy for more information.

Please remember that the value of your investments can fall as well as rise, and you can’t access any money you invest in your pension plan until you take your benefits, which is usually at any time from age 55.

Yes, this could save you on paperwork and cut down on multiple charges. We accept transfers from the following types of pensions:

  1. Personal Pension (Group, individual and self-invested)
  2. Stakeholder (Group and individual)
  3. Money purchase occupational pension scheme (unless it provides you with fixed or guaranteed benefits)

Once you have transferred other retirement savings to your Retiready pension, you won’t be able to ask us to move your pension funds back to your Aegon pension. Paying a transfer to your Retiready pension demonstrates that you are happy with the original transfer to Retiready.

Please note Retiready can't accept transfers from defined benefit pension schemes (often called 'final salary' pension schemes).

Yes. If you don't want your Aegon pension to be transferred to a Retiready pension, please let us know before the date quoted in the letter we sent you. Your pension plan will continue as is - but you won't benefit from the experience the Retiready service offers.

As well as being able to opt out of the transfer, we also have a customer returns policy in place. This means that after we transfer your existing Aegon pension to your new Retiready pension, you can ask us to move your pension back, within 12-months of your transfer date, unless you've paid money in, taken money out, switched funds or opened a Retiready ISA. Any of these actions demonstrate that you are happy with the transfer to Retiready.  Please see our returns policy below for more information.

Please note: If we first contacted you about your  pension upgrade before 1 October 2017, then we will write to you to let you know when your 12-month period starts.

Stakeholder charges adhere to strict Government criteria, which means:

Your total charges mustn't exceed:

  1. for stakeholder pensions taken out before 6 April 2005, 1% pa 
  2. for stakeholder pensions taken out on or after 6 April 2005, 1.5% pa for the first ten years, then 1% pa thereafter

Additional charges may be made even where it takes the charge above the cap, for example:

  1. dealing charges, including stamp duty, incurred directly (or indirectly via collective investment schemes) in dealing in securities or property (note that the purchase and sale price of units must not differ, i.e. bid/offer spreads are banned);
  2. costs incurred in buying an annuity;
  3. costs incurred in administering a drawdown arrangement;
  4. costs in respect of pensions earmarking orders and pension sharing costs;
  5. costs incurred in complying with a court order;
  6. charges associated with property holdings; and
  7. dilution levies and market value adjustments.

Next steps

Look out for your welcome letter that includes your unique customer ID. You'll need this to activate your new Retiready account and start enjoying all the benefits of Retiready.  In the meantime if you have any queries, please get in touch or tweet us @AegonUKCares.

Looking for more help?

Our customer support has a range of topics with answers to help you, if you still require further assistance you can also find out how to get in touch.