Reacting to a market drop by selling your investments might feel like a way to avoid further losses but it can lock in those losses. If the market recovers later, you could miss out on potential growth.
While volatility can be unsettling, it’s important to remember that markets go up as well as down. Selling during a downturn means you might miss out on potential rises following a fall.
Not necessarily. A lower value on a statement isn’t necessarily a loss. These can be temporary changes based on market conditions,
By keeping a long-term view and understanding both the risks and opportunities, you’ll be better prepared to make thoughtful decisions and stay focused on your financial goals.
Investment values naturally rise and fall. Your statement reflects one moment in time and doesn’t indicate a permanent gain or loss.
If the person holding a policy with us has passed away, you can notify us and make a claim by downloading, completing and sending us a bereavement claim form:
Along with the form, you will need to send us the following:
A photocopy of the death certificate
Original policy documents (if available)
You may also need to send us:
Nomination form
Grant of confirmation / probate
Deed of assignment
Please contact us if you have any questions, or need advice on what we require to process your claim.
If your policy is nearing maturity, we will send you a maturity pack which includes a maturity claim form.
Complete, sign and return the maturity claim form to us to receive your claim proceeds.
The owner of the policy must sign the claim form, unless the policy:
is jointly owned, which requires signatures from both owners
is owned by a child, which requires a signature from the child's parent or legal guardian
is assigned to a bank / building society, which requires a signature from an official from that institution (if the bank/building society has no further interest in the policy, they must send us a Letter of Retrocession)
is written in trust, which requires signatures from all named trustees
If you have misplaced your maturity pack, please contact us to have it reissued to you. Alternatively, you can download a blank replacement Maturity Claim form:
When your policy matures, you must ensure your Direct Debit or Standing Order is cancelled at your bank once the last payment has been collected.
To find out when your policy matures or when the last payment is due, please contact us. Please have to hand either your Policy number, Client Reference number or Direct Debit Payer Reference number.
Your last payment is collected the month before your maturity date.
For example, if your maturity date is in February, your last monthly payment is collected in January.
To find out when your maturity date is, you can either check your policy document or contact us. Please have to hand either your Policy number, Client Reference number or Direct Debit Payer Reference number.
If you've opened a policy and wish to cancel it within 30 days of opening it, you can do this online if you have registered with My Plans for a My ISA policy. For other policies, you should email us your instruction to cancel or send us a signed letter.
Your email or letter must provide the full policy number and your full name and address.
To surrender a policy, please contact us to check if your policy is eligible to be surrendered. Please have to hand either your Policy number, Client Reference number or Direct Debit Payer Reference number.
If it is eligible, we will send you a surrender claim form.
The owner of the policy must sign the claim form, unless the policy:
is jointly owned, which requires signatures from both owners
is owned by a child, which requires a signature from the child's parent or legal guardian
is assigned to a bank / building society, which requires a signature from an official from that institution (if the bank/building society has no further interest in the policy, they must send us a Letter of Retrocession)
is written in trust, which requires signatures from all named trustees.
Surrender claims can take up to 4 weeks to be processed.
Please note, you may not get the current value of your policy if you choose to surrender early. The current value of your policy is the minimum amount payable should you continue to maintain your regular monthly payments in line with your policy terms. If you choose to surrender your policy early, the value is calculated based on how long you have contributed to the policy and any surrender rates applicable at that time. The value quoted may be less than the sum you've paid in as a result of the effect of the charges in the early years.
Using My Plans
If you are registered for My Plans, you can log in to withdraw money from a policy or cash in your ISA.
1. In My Plans, on the My Plans summary, click 'More info' beside the policy you want to make a withdrawal from.
2. Under the Actions heading, click 'Make a withdrawal.'
Making a partial withdrawal
1. In the 'Withdrawal type' section, choose 'Specify amount.'
2.In the 'Withdrawal amount' section, enter the amount you want to withdraw. If you have invested in more than one fund, you can specify the amount that gets withdrawn from each fund. Select 'Let me specify the amounts' and enter how much you would like to withdraw from each fund in its 'Amount' column. Otherwise, your withdrawal will be equally proportioned from your funds.
3. Click 'Submit' to request the withdrawal.
Withdraw (cash in) full amount
1. In the 'Withdrawal type' section, choose 'Withdraw full amount.' If you want to close your account at the same time, check the 'Close account' checkbox
2. Click 'Submit' to request the withdrawal.
If you don't have a My Plans account
If you are not registered for My Plans, or cannot manage your ISA using My Plans, send us a letter confirming that you wish to make a partial withdrawal or cash in your ISA.
Please quote your ISA policy number and ensure your letter is signed.
If you have a With-Profits ISA plan, please contact us to check whether a market value adjustment / reduction currently applies to your fund on encashment.
How long do we keep your information?
Once our relationship with you has come to an end, we will retain your personal information for a period of time that enables us to:
Maintain business records for analysis and/or audit purposes; or
Comply with record retention requirements under the law;
Defend or bring any existing or potential legal claims;
Deal with any complaints regarding our products or services.
We will delete your personal information when it is no longer needed for these purposes. If there is any information that we unable, for technical reasons, to delete entirely from our systems, we will put in place appropriate measures to prevent any further processing or use of the information.
Our Bonus Notices are sent around May each year and confirm the reversionary (annual) bonus applied to your policy for that year. We issue a Bonus Notice for each year where a reversionary bonus has been applied, as each of these bonuses are not detailed individually on your maturity paperwork.
Only conventional With-Profits policies that have received an annual bonus are listed on the Bonus Notice. Unit-linked policies such as MoneyBuilder or UK Select Investment Plan will receive a separate statement.
If you're the payer on a policy, but not the owner, we can only discuss the payments with you.
Policy information can only be given to the owner of the policy or anyone who has authority which is noted on that individual policy.
To obtain information if you are not the policyholder, please submit a letter of authority signed by the policy owner.
You may find information that could help here.
We only require a policy document in the event of a claim (on surrender, maturity or death).
On surrender, maturity or death, if you're unable to locate the policy document, download the relevant Lost Policy Declaration form below, complete it and send to us.
· Lost Policy Declaration form - Surrender claims [PDF]
· Lost Policy Declaration form - Maturity or Death claims [PDF]
If you're unable to download the relevant form, please contact us and we can send you a copy. There is no charge for this.
Charges vary depending on which product you apply for.
To find out what charges apply to a specific product, visit the product's page and scroll to the 'Apply online' section. The Product Guide is available for download here and answers a number of questions, including details on charges.
What are my/the charges?
We provide a guide to our fund charges and costs for our Managed Growth Fund here.
The tax year resets on the 6th of April each year. The current ISA allowance is £20,000 this tax year and the current Junior ISA allowance is £9,000.
We currently only accept payment by Direct Debit.
The following fund prices and latest fund information are always available to view on our website:
Using My Plans
If you're registered for My Plans, you can log in to view the current value of your policy.
In My Plans, the current valuation is displayed on the summary screen My Plans in the table of policies you hold with us, in the 'Current valuation (£)' column.
You will not be able to see the values for any of our child products, such as Child Bond or Child Flexible plan.
If you don't have My Plans account
If you took out one of our child policies or you're not registered for My Plans and wish to obtain a value, please contact us. Please make sure to provide either your Policy number, Client Reference number or Direct Debit Payer Reference number when contacting us.
Policy information can only be given to the owner of the policy or anyone who has authority which is noted on that individual policy.
To obtain information if you are not the policyholder, a letter of authority will need to be submitted and signed by the policy owner.