Changes to Wrap SIPP provider

In 2021 it was announced as part of the strategic relationship between abrdn and Phoenix that the arrangement would be simplified and abrdn would become the provider of the SIPP on the Wrap platform. To facilitate this a new abrdn pension scheme will be set up for the abrdn SIPP which will be launched in due course.

As preparations are being made to implement the change of provider, the Wrap SIPP product offering has also been reviewed and some of the current features and investment types will not be available under the new abrdn SIPP.

As part of the Adviser Experience Programme, the Standard Life Wrap SIPP (Wrap SIPP) will be replaced by the abrdn SIPP which will be provided by the abrdn group (abrdn SIPP). There are a few features currently being used by some of your clients that will not be available on the abrdn SIPP, so you and your clients will need to decide what action to take.

These changes do not affect any other Wrap products or any of your clients’ other investments on the Wrap platform.

Further down this page you can find details of the three options we made available to your clients, and copies of the letters they received from Standard Life in January 2023.

The deadline for making a decision and taking relevant action was 14 April 2023.  If we didn't hear from you by this date, your clients' Wrap SIPP will be converted to a Standard Life Active Money SIPP (Active Money SIPP).
We are currently in the process of converting impacted Wrap SIPP accounts to Standard Life Active Money SIPP accounts. We will contact you over the coming months as and when we begin the conversion process for each of your impacted clients.

The following features are currently being used by one or more of your impacted clients and will not be available via the abrdn SIPP:

• Investments in gold bullion
• Investments in commercial property
• Investments in Barclays Managed Portfolios
• Pension Contribution Insurance
• Capped drip feed drawdown

In addition to the above features, your clients can also be impacted by the following scenarios:

• If they have more than one plan in the Standard Life Self Invested Personal Pension Scheme which allows them to take benefits before age 55 or a tax-free lump sum greater than 25% (Protected Benefits).
• Investments which can’t be sold due to the provider experiencing financial or operational distress (Distressed Investments) and cannot be re-registered to another pension scheme. For clients holding Distressed Investments in their SIPP, the only available option was option two, noted below.  Your clients' letter from Standard Life states if they hold Distressed Investments.

Clients currently using these features will be unable to transfer their Wrap SIPP to the new abrdn SIPP.  The options that were available for these clients were set out in the client letters and in this document.  Unfortunately, it will not be possible to transfer a client's Wrap SIPP to the abrdn SIPP where the client holds Distressed Investments which cannot be transferred to another pension scheme.

To preserve client outcomes, impacted clients will be able to continue with their current selected pension features and investments by having their Wrap SIPP converted to an alternative product within the same Standard Life pension scheme – the Active Money SIPP.

Any other products and investments on the Wrap platform the clients may be invested in will be unaffected by this.