Your clients will be able to transfer and invest their existing protected rights pension pots into Standard Life’s range of SIPP products* from 1 October 2008 - crucially the first date this will be allowed under Government legislation changes. New business applications will be available from 18 August 2008.

The benefits for clients adding protected rights into SIPP include:

• Making investment and asset allocation decisions in one place, using the SIPP alone
• Invest their protected rights money where they wish rather than being confined to a very limited range of investment options
• May reduce charges especially where protected rights are currently held in older contracts, or where the addition of protected rights gives a larger fund discount
• Reduces paperwork, time and hassle
• Easier to keep track and monitor fund performance
• Introduces additional choice and flexibility when clients need to take retirement income, offering our full range of drawdown options

The £100 billion opportunity
The ability to transfer and invest existing protected rights pension pots into SIPP provides advisers with a fantastic opportunity as Andrew Tully, Standard Life’s Senior Pensions Technical Manager explains:

“We estimate there is between £75 billion and £100 billion of protected rights funds currently held in defined contribution pension schemes which consumers might want to consolidate into their SIPP.

“This is often money which people have forgotten about and therefore is a great opportunity to make this money work as hard as possible for retirement. People will be able to make investment decisions and monitor progress of their retirement plans using their SIPP alone. It will make life easier for people by reducing paperwork while maximising the investment potential across their portfolios.”

Plan with certainty
You will now be able to plan with certainty and conduct client reviews knowing that the Standard Life SIPP will be open to protected rights transfer business from the earliest possible moment.

Further information
For more information on Standard Life’s SIPP proposition, please speak to your Standard Life account manager.

* The range of Standard Life SIPP products are Retail SIPP, Group SIPP, Group Flexible Retirement Plan and Wrap SIPP.