Support hub

If your firm is registered and has a security user (sometimes called a super user), they can add you as a new user and assign your access role (adviser or non‑adviser).

Once you’ve been added, we’ll create your account and send you two automated emails to complete your set up:

• The first confirms your username.
• The second includes a link to create your password (this link expires after 72 hours and will need to be reissued if it expires).

Once your set up is complete, you can login to:

• View the platform.
• Submit new business (if you have an adviser access role).

Transfers of servicing are completed separately. If a Letter of Authority (LOA) is still being processed, you won’t be able to take action on a client’s account until it’s in place. 

If you or your firm do not know who your super user is, please contact our Operational team. They’ll be able to assist, including arranging for a new super user to be set up if required.

If your firm is not yet registered, an adviser firm application form will need to be completed (available in the ‘Register and set up’ section above).

As part of the application, confirmation will be required that the firm has read and understood the:

• Scottish Widows Platform Adviser Terms of Business.
• Adviser Terms of Use.

These documents are available in our literature library.

Once we receive the completed application:

• We’ll set up the firm on the platform.
• We’ll onboard the firm’s security (super) users.
• The security/super user can then add advisers and administrators.

Please note your firm must appear on the FCA register before it can be onboarded. If your firm has only recently been authorised, there may be a delay until this information is available on the register.

When you log in using your security user access, you will be given two options:

• Add new user allows you to add a new user. When you select this action tile, you will then be asked if you would like to add a new adviser type user or non-adviser type user.
• Edit User allows you to edit an existing user (this includes unlocking a user’s account) When you select this action tile, you will be asked for details to search for the user you wish to edit.

Step by step instructions to manage users can be found in our Security User Guide.

If you have been sent user credentials previously and you have not logged in, you can click the ‘Forgot my password’ link to reset your password. Alternatively, your super user can set you up.

Clients must be a UK resident, 18 years or older, hold a sterling denominated bank account and have a valid email address to open one of our Accounts.

Please note a Junior ISA and Junior Personal Pension can be opened by a parent or guardian for a child under 18.

You can choose to have remuneration paid Monthly, Annually or Quarterly.

If you choose monthly payment, please be aware that when your chosen date lands on a weekend or a bank holiday, the payment does not occur. Instead, the payment defers until the next month that your chosen payment date lands on a working day. For example, 25 December is a non-working day, so your payment will be made on 25 January.

You have the following options to avoid being impacted by this:

• Use the option to request payment from the platform.
• Amend payment frequency to weekly.

You can view remuneration statements in the user interface, our firm report guide shows you how to access them.

In some occasions when a client inherits or transfers assets onto the Scottish Widows Platform, we place those newly inherited or transferred assets in a separate account. This can happen in the following situations:

• Beneficiary drawdown (dependent, nominee or successor)
• Pension credit (qualifying or disqualifying)
• Scheme specific protected tax-free cash.

In some cases, the reason for ringfencing the benefits is based on pension regulations (e.g. non-taxable death benefits), but in others, we ringfence benefits for administrative or platform functionality reasons. Please note in all cases, we allow the separate portfolios to be linked to ensure the client pays the correct (lower) platform-based charge.

To help reduce the time it takes to transfer, we offer an electronic process for SIPP re-registrations.

This means we will be able to transfer assets using the Origo system, to providers who are also configured to support electronic SIPP re-registrations, reducing the time it takes to transfer. There is a manual process for any providers that do not accept electronic transfers, however, where Fund Managers are set up to re-register electronically, assets will be moved this way.
 
The transfer authority form is not required for SIPP Re-registrations when transferring to a provider that also accepts electronic transfers.

To get updates online visit the Client Management section of the platform and then select View all Client Transactions. You can then select Cash transfers / Re-registration, where you will then be able to search for updates.

The Scottish Widows Platform has a low initial contribution level of £50 for the Personal Pension, ISA, JISA and GIA, and a range of flexible contribution frequencies. If you are transferring funds into a TPIA, a minimum payment of £5,000 applies.

In response to the FCA’s Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR), we’ve added functionality to show if a fund has a sustainability label and/or a consumer facing disclosure report.

There are four sustainability labels (Focus, Impact, Improvers, Mixed Goals) that if applicable will be displayed on our investment selector screens.

The consumer-facing disclosure reports will be presented in the same way we display KIIDs and Fund Factsheets These will also be displayed on our investment selector screens and where we display holdings.

We will also display a label containing a warning to investors where an instrument is not subject to UK sustainable investment labelling and disclosure requirements.

Regular withdrawals and regular pensions income can be set up monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly.

The client can select any day of the month between 1st and 28th for the regular withdrawal payment to be deducted from their account, with the payment being received in the client’s bank account on the same day.

Where the withdrawal or payment date fall on the weekend or a bank holiday, payments will be made the previous working day.

Regular withdrawals and pension income payments are paid from cash inside the product and there must be enough cash for the withdrawal to be paid. To facilitate this, you can set up an income payment strategy for the client and target specific funds for the withdrawal.