Aegon vs Standard Life pension: Standard Life sells a personal pension direct, while new Aegon plans come through work or an adviser. Charges, funds and access compared.
The main difference is the way in: Aegon's Retiready Pension is closed to new customers and its SIPP is opened by an adviser, while Standard Life's Personal Pension can be opened direct. Which suits you turns on the plan you could hold and its cost on your own paperwork. Two firms, two kinds of plan: an FCA-authorised adviser can say how each fits your pots, and this page's form asks for that free call-back.
Aegon vs Standard Life pension: the main differences
| Aegon | Standard Life | |
|---|---|---|
| How you join | Through an employer's scheme, or an Aegon SIPP that an adviser opens. The Retiready Pension is for existing holders only. | A Personal Pension you apply for online or by phone, from £1, plus workplace pensions through employers. |
| Charge as printed | Retiready: a service charge capped at 0.5% a year, with fund charges added. Workplace: set scheme by scheme. SIPP: see your illustration. | Personal Pension ready-made option: 0.55% in total for its most expensive fund, correct as at 9 October 2026. |
| Investments | Workplace default fund chosen by the employer; over 6,000 investments in Aegon Retirement Choices (as at 31 December 2025). | A ready-made option, or over 50 investment options. |
| Taking money | SIPP has a flexi-access drawdown part; no annuity product on its platform. | Lump sums, flexible income or an annuity; no charge for withdrawals. |
| Moving a pot in | Aegon Platform accepts transfers from a range of plans; defined benefit only with a qualified adviser. | No charge to transfer in; could take a few weeks. |
The value of investments can fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than was paid in.
What the Standard Life plc deal means for Aegon customers
A notice on Aegon's website, read 26 October 2026, says "Aegon Group has announced the sale of Aegon UK to Standard Life plc". It says "There will be no immediate change", it is early stages with regulatory and legal approvals to come, and customers keep an Aegon policy meanwhile. Your plan's paperwork shows which firm provides it today.
Which of the two could you actually open?
Aegon says the Retiready Pension is closed: "The option to take out a Retiready Pension was withdrawn with effect from 1/12/2023." A workplace Aegon pension arrives through an employer, under names such as Aegon Retirement Choices, TargetPlan or the Aegon Master Trust (what an Aegon pension is). The Aegon SIPP key features, accurate as at April 2026, say an adviser can open one, and an applicant must be habitually resident in the UK and cannot be a US citizen or US taxpayer.
Standard Life's Personal Pension can be opened "from as little as £1", and its page says you can hold more than one personal pension. The Standard Life pension plan covers its other plan types. It also runs workplace pensions (auto-enrolment explained).
Charges: a headline figure against a structure
Standard Life prints one number for its ready-made Personal Pension option: a Total Charge of 0.55%, made up of a service charge of 0.45% and a total fund charge of 0.10%, for the most expensive fund in the option (so you may pay less), not guaranteed. It says its charges leave out fund transaction costs.
Aegon prints structures. Retiready's service charge tops out at 0.5% a year, taken monthly, with fund charges on top. Workplace charges sit in a scheme-specific charges document for the default funds. The Aegon Platform has three charges: an annual charge, an investment charge and any adviser charge, with your own figures in your illustration. A single number set beside a structure is not a like-for-like contest, so compare the same plan type with the same funds. The detail is in Aegon pension charges, Standard Life pension charges and pension charges and fees.
Already hold a pot with either firm? Use the short form for an adviser to ring and go over what that plan charges.
Funds: defaults, ready-made and build-your-own
In a workplace Aegon plan, the employer's default applies unless you choose otherwise. The Master Trust default is Aegon LifePath Flexi, and in Aegon Retirement Choices the main default is Aegon Workplace Default, which may differ by scheme. In Aegon Retirement Choices, investment trusts, ETFs and more complex investments are only available through an adviser. Retiready holders have a choice of five funds.
One ready-made option Standard Life names is its Sustainable Multi Asset Universal (Series F) SLP, which from 15 years before your chosen retirement date starts moving gradually into funds that are usually lower-risk. Switching funds carries no charge. How each firm's funds have done is a separate question: Aegon fund factsheets and Standard Life fund performance cover it.
Drawdown and annuities at each
Both firms describe access from 55, rising to 57 from 6 April 2028, and Standard Life says 25% is usually tax-free. Before choosing, free government guidance is available: Aegon points to Pension Wise, "a free and impartial government service offering guidance about your retirement options".
An Aegon SIPP can have a flexi-access drawdown part. Regular income starts from £25 a payment, on the 9th, 18th or 27th of the month, and Aegon notes its platform does not offer an annuity product, so an annuity would be bought elsewhere. Standard Life says it is free to set up flexible drawdown and it does not charge for withdrawals or switching, and that you can choose the day your income arrives; it lists an annuity among the ways to take money. See how pension drawdown works and Standard Life annuity rates.
Moving a pension between providers
Aegon's guide to transfers for its Platform says it will accept transfers from a range of pension plans, but transfers in from defined benefit schemes are allowed only if an appropriately qualified financial adviser carried them out and recommended the transfer. Moving investments in their existing form can take up to eight weeks, less with electronic re-registration. From an Aegon SIPP, Aegon does not charge to transfer out, but the receiving scheme might.
Standard Life says it does not charge to transfer in, though your old provider may charge an exit fee, and the process could take a few weeks. It needs the provider name, policy number and a rough value. Both firms warn that you may lose benefits or guarantees on transfer. Steps and checks are in moving a pension out of Aegon and how to transfer a pension.
Aegon or Standard Life: what people ask next
Which is better, Aegon or Standard Life?
That depends on the route in (work, adviser or direct), the charge on your own illustration and the funds you would hold, so this page gives no ranking.
Does Standard Life own Aegon?
Not on Aegon's own account so far: when its notice was read in October 2026 the sale was at an early stage, with regulatory and legal approvals still to work through.
Is Scottish Widows or Standard Life the better pension?
The same points apply. Put the firms side by side on charges, funds and access; Scottish Widows pension fees shows its side of the charges.
How does Royal London compare with Standard Life?
Ask both how you would join, what your illustration charges and which funds you would hold; Royal London vs Standard Life covers that pairing.
Where do I see what my own plan charges?
Standard Life says you can find your plan type by logging in or checking an annual statement, and Aegon points SIPP holders to their illustration.
If you would like an adviser to set both firms against your whole position and ring you back, ask through the short form here.