Your policy will continue to be administered in the same way and you can contact us using the same contact details. We'll honour any guarantees we have in place on payments you've already made.

Your investment in the Scottish Friendly with-profits fund, will become part of a new, closed with-profits fund. The new fund will be known as the 'SFAS sub-fund'.

Your policy terms and conditions won't change. If your policy has any guarantees on premiums already paid, these will stay the same, The money already invested in the with-profits fund will stay invested and we'll keep managing this for you. You can continue to contact us in the same way.

Will the charges on my policy change?

There will be no impact on charges taken from your policy. An expense agreement will also be put in place to fix the future expenses incurred by the SFAS sub-fund as it runs off.

We're satisfied that the expense agreement is in the interests of policyholders and provides protection against rapidly increasing costs in the future.

No. Your pension policy contains a valuable guarantee. At the moment, this guarantee is more valuable than your share of the investments in the with-profits fund. We’ll continue to honour this guarantee and the merger and policy uplift will not affect it. 

Although your share of investments in the with-profits fund will be increased by the policy uplift, your guarantee will remain the more valuable benefit. 

Both Scottish Friendly and OneFamily are authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and regulated by both the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the PRA. These are the UK regulators responsible for overseeing financial services firms and this will not change after the merger. 

The merger won’t affect your protection under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). For investments, such as Stocks and Shares ISAs the protection is up to £85,000 per person.  

Any premiums you currently pay will continue in line with the terms of your policy.  

For policies with contractual premiums, you’ll need to keep making premium payments. 

If your policy doesn’t have contractual premiums, we’ll keep collecting your premiums unless you tell us not to. 

As the SFAS sub-fund will be closed to future investments, premiums (or the with-profits portion of them) won’t go into it, unless otherwise allowed by your policy. Instead, payments will go into the default fund set out in the appendix to the letter. This also shows whether your policy has contractual or non-contractual premiums. 

Our team has carefully considered the aims of the with-profits fund and has looked to match that as closely as possible from the range of available funds. They took into account the range of different types of investments in the with-profits fund and the level of risk involved in the fund. 

The default fund is where we’ll automatically put new payments unless you tell us you want to manage your own investments. You don’t need to contact us if you’re happy to use that default fund going forward. My ISA and My Junior ISA customers can also make changes by logging into the My Plans online portal via the app or website myplans.scottishfriendly.co.uk. 

To qualify for a share of the value from the SFAS sub-fund, you must have made payments into your policy on or before 31 March 2026. Any payments made after this date will not be included. 

If you currently make regular payments into the fund, these will continue to be invested in the With-Profits Fund until the merger takes place. However, only payments made on or before 31 March 2026 will be used to work out your share of the value from the SFAS sub-fund. 

The policy uplift will apply to the value of your policy, which is used to work out the benefits payable under it. 

This revised policy value will be used to set payouts for policies. This means that immediately following the merger completing OneFamily will implement a bonus declaration. This will increase final bonus rates such that payouts for eligible policies are expected to increase by around 5%.  

If your policy has a guarantee that’s higher than the revised policy value, your policy will continue to receive the guarantees. 

If you take your money from or switch out of the with-profits fund before the merger happens, you won’t receive a policy uplift.

We would encourage you to read and understand the proposal. This will potentially impact your policy and whether you’ll be able to contribute future premiums to the with-profits fund. If you’re happy with the new fund that your payments will be made to, you don’t need to do anything else. 

You can find more information about OneFamily at onefamily.com. 

We have put in place a process designed to help protect policyholders’ interests throughout the merger. 

If you have any questions or concerns about the proposed merger, please contact us using the details provided in the letter. We’ll be happy to explain the proposal and what it means for you and your policy. 

You can also read the independent expert’s report, which considers the likely impact of the merger on policyholders. This is available at scottishfriendly.co.uk/together. 

If you believe the proposed merger may negatively affect you, please let us know. It’s important that we understand your concerns so we can consider them as part of the process. 

If you’re a delegate member of Scottish Friendly, you’ll be able to vote on the merger. A Special General Meeting will take place on 20 November 2026. 

We’ll share information about voting arrangements with delegates nearer the time. 

In consideration of the information needs of with-profits policyholders Scottish Friendly has arranged a meeting of the with-profits committee with the delegate members to support their consideration of the impact of the merger on with-profits policyholders. The timing of this session is being finalized, but it is expected to be held in mid-October 2026. The Chair of the with-profits committee’s overview will be made available to view on our website shortly after the session and in advance of the vote on the merger proposals.

Additionally, we’ll provide an updated Q&A document reflecting the feedback on with- profits issues that we receive from delegate members and with-profits policyholders for the duration of the merger process. Where queries or feedback is received, key themes will be summarised and responses shared such that all the with-profits policyholders will understand Scottish Friendly’s reasoning and rationale for all the feedback points.

This will give with-profits policyholders further information on the features of the proposal important to them and will support their engagement with the Part VIII process.

None of these initiatives will in any way detract from the with-profits policyholders’ right to make representations to the PRA on their views of the merger. In this way we’ll ensure that our communications are fair, clear and not misleading.

We don’t expect this to be the case but, if the vote isn’t in our favour, the merger can’t go ahead. 

Depending on the reasons for a vote of no, we might decide to make some changes to the proposal. We could then hold another vote on the new proposal. The merger won’t go ahead unless we have approval from OneFamily members and Scottish Friendly member delegates. 

If the merger does not go ahead, we’ll continue to deliver our current strong and ambitious plan. OneFamily and Scottish Friendly are both well positioned as independent organisations. 

The proposed merger must go through a number of stages before it can happen. These include: 

• Approval by eligible members at a Special General Meeting. 

• Review by an independent actuary. 

• Approval by the relevant regulators. 

• Completion of the legal process for a transfer to take place. 

We expect to join together with OneFamily in early 2027. If this timeline changes, we’ll let you know on our website. 

The merger has been reviewed by an independent actuary. This is a professional who gives advice in finance matters that could affect policyholders. They’re independent of both Scottish Friendly and OneFamily. 

Our regulator, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) directed us to appoint an independent actuary to carry out this review and agreed to the actuary we have appointed. The role of the independent actuary is to provide a fair and balanced review of the merger. Their report is available at scottishfriendly.co.uk/together. 

As part of the transfer, the Scottish Friendly products and policies will transfer to OneFamily. They’ll then become responsible for your policy. 

The OneFamily board will be responsible for handling investments and paying bonuses for the SFAS sub-fund. They must do this in line with the Principles and Practice of Financial Management (PPFM). You can read this by visiting scottishfriendly.co.uk/together. 

Under the terms of the merger, the board will be formed of a mix of members from each of Scottish Friendly and OneFamily’s existing boards. The board is advised by a with-profits committee and the with-profits actuary when making any decision impacting policyholder interests. The board also shares a report with policyholders every year. The report explains whether they believe they have taken the interests of with-profits policyholders into account in a reasonable and proportionate manner. 

As the fund is closed to new business, the money in the fund will naturally go down over time. When the SFAS sub-fund reaches a point that the volume of remaining with-profits business becomes too small to manage effectively. This is not expected to happen for at least 15 years.

The hearing at the Royal Court of Jersey is expected to be at 9:00am on Thursday 4 February 2027 at the Royal Court of Jersey, Royal Court House, Royal Square, St Helier, Jersey JE1 1BA. If this time or date should change, we will notify you by putting the new time or date on our website.

If Scottish Friendly and Family Assurance do not receive approval from the Royal Court of Jersey, none of the business of Scottish Friendly will transfer to Family Assurance.

If the Royal Court of Jersey gives its approval, we expect the transfer to take place on 28 February 2027.

If you have concerns about the proposed transfer and feel you may be adversely affected, you can object to the Jersey Scheme.

If you’d like to object to the Jersey Scheme You can raise your concerns or object to the Jersey Scheme in the following ways:

• By calling our helpline, writing to us or completing the online form. Please let us know if you have any concerns about the Jersey Scheme. If we can’t address your concerns and you’d like to raise an objection, we’ll make the Royal Court of Jersey, the Independent Actuary and our regulators aware of your objection before the hearing. The Royal Court of Jersey would then take the objection into consideration when reaching its decision.

• By attending the Court hearing and presenting your objection in person If you’d like to, you can attend the hearing at the Royal Court of Jersey, either in person or through a legal representative. You can also make the written representations directly to the Royal Court of Jersey. Please send your letter to: The Royal Court of Jersey, Royal Court House, Royal Square, St Helier, Jersey JE1 1BA including 2026/258 as a reference. Please also send a copy to us.1. By calling our helpline, writing to us or completing the online form Please let us know if you have any concerns about the Jersey Scheme. If we can’t address your concerns and you’d like to raise an objection, we’ll make the Royal Court of Jersey, the Independent Actuary and our regulators aware of your objection before the hearing. The Royal Court of Jersey would then take the objection into consideration when reaching its decision.

• By attending the Court hearing and presenting your objection in person If you’d like to, you can attend the hearing at the Royal Court of Jersey, either in person or through a legal representative. You can also make the written representations directly to the Royal Court of Jersey. Please send your letter to: The Royal Court of Jersey, Royal Court House, Royal Square, St Helier, Jersey JE1 1BA including 2026/258 as a reference. Please also send a copy to us.

The hearing at the Royal Court of Guernsey is expected to be at 9.30am on Friday 12 February 2027 at the Royal Court of Guernsey, The Royal Court House, St Peter Port, Guernsey GY1 2NZ. If this time or date should change, we will notify you by putting the new time or date on our website.

If Scottish Friendly and Family Assurance do not receive approval from the Royal Court of Guernsey, none of the business of Scottish Friendly will transfer to Family Assurance.

If the Royal Court of Guernsey gives its approval and all other required approvals are obtained, we expect the transfer to take place on 28 February 2027.

If you have concerns about the proposed transfer and feel you may be adversely affected, you can object to the Guernsey Scheme.

If you’d like to object to the Guernsey Scheme You can raise your concerns or object to the Guernsey Scheme in the following ways:

• By calling our helpline, writing to us or completing the online form Please let us know if you have any concerns about the Guernsey Scheme. If we can’t address your concerns and you’d like to raise an objection, we’ll make the Royal Court of Guernsey, the Independent Actuary and our regulators aware of your objection before the hearing. The Royal Court of Guernsey would then take the objection into consideration when reaching its decision.

• By attending the Court hearing and presenting your objection in person If you’d like to, you can attend the hearing at the Royal Court of Guernsey, either in person or through a legal representative.

The merger is a positive choice to create a bigger, more impactful mutual. OneFamily and Scottish Friendly are well positioned on an individual basis and joining together unlocks the opportunity to create more long-term value for members.  

OneFamily is a mutual insurer based in Brighton with around 1.5 million members across the UK and £5.7 billion in assets under management. It offers a range of investment and protection products. In 2022, it acquired Beagle Street, which offers a range of protection products such as life insurance and critical illness cover direct to customers and via financial advisers.  

OneFamily has the same values and commitment to mutuality as Scottish Friendly – we both put members at the heart of our thinking, not shareholders, and we both play an active role in our communities. That commitment will continue as we join forces.  

No. The combined mutual organisation will operate under the group name of OneFamily and the Scottish Friendly brand will remain as part of a multi brand group, including the Beagle Street Brand.  

There won’t be any changes to your existing Scottish Friendly member benefits. In fact, the merger may help us create even more value for our members as we will become one of the UK’s largest mutuals.

No. Both of our organisations are member-owned mutuals. Our mission is to provide value for money financial products for the benefit of our members. We have no plans to change this.

Because Scottish Friendly and OneFamily are both member-owned mutuals, the merger needs to be agreed by Scottish Friendly’s member delegates and OneFamily’s members. This means Scottish Friendly will be holding a Special General Meeting (SGM on the 20th November) for its delegate members to vote on the merger. OneFamily will also hold an SGM, where its members will vote on the merger on the 18th of November.  

Our governance means that the proposals will be agreed by the Member Delegates. These are the representatives of the membership who have responsibility for agreeing the key developments impacting the organisation and its members.  

We believe this proposal is in the interest of Scottish Friendly members.  

Merger benefits: 

• More member benefits: the merger will help us introduce even more benefits to help our members save more in the future.  

• A wide range of affordable products: access to more great value investment and protection products for our members.  

• A better customer care experience through improved digital infrastructure and technology.  

• More opportunity to invest charities and communities.  

The Scottish Friendly Board and OneFamily Board support the merger. We believe the merger is right for our members and will provide: 

• More member benefits: the merger will help us introduce even more ways to help our members save in the future. 

• A wider range of affordable products: access to more great value investment and protection products for you and your family. 

• A better customer care experience through improved digital infrastructure and technology. 

• More opportunity to invest in charities and communities that you care about.

The proposal will be subject to all necessary approvals, including regulatory approval, Scottish Friendly’s member delegates vote and OneFamily’s member vote. If members and delegates vote in favour, we expect to join together with OneFamily in early 2027. 

As part of the proposed merger between Scottish Friendly and OneFamily and subject to regulatory approval, the organisations will be brought together under a single legal and financial structure

Guardian is a standalone business and not part of Scottish Friendly or a brand owned by Scottish Friendly. The announcement has no impact on Guardian’s brand, customers, staff, distributors or the product and policies it provide.  

We are not anticipating this to be the case. However, if the vote is not in favour, the merger cannot go ahead.  

Member approval for Scottish Friendly delegate members and OneFamily members is required for the merger to proceed. 

The proposed merger is between two financially robust mutual organisations, and both Scottish Friendly and OneFamily are well positioned independently. 

Depending on the reasons for the outcome, it may be appropriate to consider amendments to the proposal and to seek approval of a revised proposal through a further member delegate/member vote; however, the merger cannot proceed without member delegate approval (for Scottish Friendly) and member (for OneFamily).  

If the merger does not proceed, we will continue to deliver our current strong and ambitious strategy. The proposed merger is between two financially robust mutual organisations, and both OneFamily and Scottish Friendly are well positioned independently. 

Yes. There will be no changes to how you can access your account once the merger takes place.  

There will be no immediate effect to the premiums or charges you pay.  

You do not need to take any action. We‘ll take care of the transfer if the merger proceeds.  

Scottish Friendly customers are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). For investments, such as Stocks and Shares ISAs the protection is up to £85,000 per person.  

You can find out more at scottishfriendly.co.uk/together and we will be contacting members with more information about the proposed merger in due course. 

The Courts in Jersey and Guernsey are being asked to approve the transfer of Scottish Friendly’s business in Jersey and the Bailiwick of Guernsey to OneFamily. 

Even if you currently live in Jersey or the Bailiwick of Guernsey, your OneFamily policy/product will not transfer as part of these Court processes as no OneFamily policies/products are transferring. You can still get information about the Court processes in Jersey and Bailiwick of Guernsey by getting in touch with us. * 

Alternatively, you can find more information on our website, including details of when the Court hearings will take place and what to do if you have any objections to our proposals. If you are a OneFamily member, you will still get to vote at the SGM, even if you currently live in Jersey or the Bailiwick of Guernsey. 

*For CS – Suggest CSR fields these to [email protected] mailbox with reference to Jersey and Guernsey query so that we can pick these up separately. Please take the member's details so we can respond as appropriate