On this page you’ll find resources and useful contact details for finding help and guidance with your pension.
Member portal
Our member portal gives you secure access to your benefits and details at any time.
Log in to BenpalYou can log in to Benpal to:
- see the current value of your pension benefits
- check and update your personal details
- see and change details of the people you’d like benefits to go to when you die.
Once you’ve registered for the member portal, you’ll be able to log in with your Unique ID and password.
If you forget your password in future, choose ‘Forgotten your details?’ and enter your Unique ID. You’ll then receive a link to reset your password to the email address you registered with.
Santander Support Fund
This Fund exists to provide financial support and assistance to past and present Santander employees and their families who are facing financial pressures. It was set up after Santander, saw how the rise in the cost of living was affecting employees and approached the Bank Workers Charity for help.
Anyone who has worked for any of the Santander employers, or is a Santander pensioner, can access the Bank Workers Charity’s full range of wellbeing support and services. These include counselling, dealing with debts, help to access benefits and advice on flexible working rights. These services are free and confidential. If you access support from the Bank Workers Charity, no-one will know unless you tell them.
If you’re struggling financially, you may be able to get a grant from the Bank Worker’s Charity. Find out more about who’s eligible and how to apply or contact the Bank Workers Charity helpline: 0800 0234 834 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm).
Useful organisations
MoneyHelper
MoneyHelper is a free service from the government. Its website has information and guidance about a range of money matters including pensions and retirement.
MoneyHelper includes Pension Wise, a service which offers impartial guidance about pensions and retirement. Pension Wise also offers appointments specifically for people over 50 who have DC benefits, such as those in LifeSight. You can find out how to book an appointment in the Pension Wise section of the MoneyHelper website.
Pension Wise doesn’t offer appointments for explaining defined benefits (DB) such as those from our Scheme. However, you can still get help from a pension specialist by phone or webchat.
Website, including live webchat: www.moneyhelper.org.uk (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, except bank holidays).
Pensions helpline: 0800 011 3797 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, except bank holidays).
Post: MoneyHelper, 120 Holborn, London EC1N 2TD
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)
You can contact HMRC if you have any questions about tax matters – including income tax, National Insurance and pension tax allowances.
Website: www.gov.uk
Contact information: www.gov.uk/contact-hmrc
The Pensions Ombudsman
The Pensions Ombudsman is an independent organisation set up by law to deal with pension complaints. They look at the facts without taking sides and their service is free.
You can contact the Pensions Ombudsman for help with a complaint you haven’t been able to resolve with your pension scheme.
Website: www.pensions-ombudsman.org.uk
Phone: 0800 917 4487 (Monday to Friday, 10am to 2pm)
Email: enquiries@pensions-ombudsman.org.uk
Post: The Pensions Ombudsman, 10 South Colonnade, Canary Wharf E14 4PU
You can also fill out a complaints form online at: www.pensions-ombudsman.org.uk/contact-us
Pension Tracing Service
This is a government service you can use to find contact details for pensions you’ve lost track of. You need the name of an employer or pension provider to use the service.
Website: www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details
Phone: 0800 1223 170
Post: The Pension Tracing Service, The Lantern, High Street, Ilfracombe, EX34 9QB
The National Pension Tracing Day website also has resources to help you find lost pensions, including a step-by-step guide to using the Pension Tracing Service.
Getting financial advice
Neither Gallagher, nor Santander UK plc, nor the Scheme Trustees can give you advice about what you should do with your pension benefits.
If you would like personalised advice about how to take your pension, tax planning or leaving money to your dependants, you should think about speaking to a qualified independent financial adviser who is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and is on the FCA’s register of authorised firms.
The government’s MoneyHelper website has a guide to finding a financial adviser and a directory of financial advisers who can give advice on pensions. All the advisers in the MoneyHelper directory are regulated by the FCA.
Alternatively, you can look at the Personal Finance Society's (PFS) What we do for the public section. This includes a directory of independent financial advisers. You can filter the advisers to find those that specialise in retirement planning.
Pension scams
Pensions are valuable – and that makes them a target for scammers who would like to get their hands on the money.
With modern technology, scammers can produce professional-looking materials and even ‘clone’ websites of legitimate companies. They use psychological tricks and sophisticated marketing techniques to play on people’s ‘fear of missing out’.
A common scam tactic is to offer a free review of your pension, followed by an invitation to transfer your pension benefits out to somewhere you will, supposedly, get better value. They may say your defined benefit pension is ‘frozen’ and giving you poor value and suggest you’d be better off transferring it out of its scheme.
How to avoid scams
- Ignore or reject any unsolicited contact about your pension - even if it appears to be from a legitimate organisation like Pension Wise or the Department for Work and Pensions. These organisations will not contact you unless you contact them first.
- Similarly, be wary of approaches that appear to be from your bank, building society or pension provider. They may know personal details about you, but those are generally easy to find online. Never call back or reply to an email directly – instead, find the provider’s real contact details from a trusted source and use those.
- You should never open links in texts, emails or social media messages. Doing this can download viruses on to your device and could expose your personal details to theft and fraud.
- If you’re dealing with someone who claims to be a financial adviser, check that they appear on the FCA’s register of authorised firms. This register also lists the real contact details for financial firms, so you can check whether you’re dealing with the genuine firm or a scammer.
- Visit the FCA’s ScamSmart website. It has resources to help you spot and avoid scams, including a list of current known scams.
If you’ve been made an offer you think is a scam
The best way to combat scams is to report them. If you’ve been made an offer about your pension and you think it’s a scam, report it to FCA ScamSmart.
- Phone: 0800 111 6768 (Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm and Saturdays 9am to 1pm)
- Online: www.fca.org.uk/consumers/report-scam
You should also report scams to Action Fraud, a reporting centre run by the police.
- Phone: 0300 123 2040
- Online: www.actionfraud.police.uk/reporting-fraud-and-cyber-crime
If you think you’ve been scammed
If you’ve gone ahead with a pension transfer but are now worried it’s a scam, call your pension provider as soon as possible. They may be able to stop the transfer if you are quick enough.