Standard Life shares

[enigma]

I had a letter redirected from the DWP on behalf of Standard Life who were trying to get in touch with me but didn't have my new address. I had a group personal pension with the company I was working for back in 2001 but froze my pension when I went onto maternity leave and I have now been advised that despite this , I am eligible for the cash windfall. I have 193 shares and I have been told that I would be sent a welcome pack but I am unsure what to do with them. I am more inclined to think that I should perhaps hold onto them but I am pretty clueless about stocks and shares. So what should I do ? Do I cash them in now or leave them as they are and if so , for how long ?

[Shazza36]

Not an anawer more of a question- my husband got a letter from DWP as he has a frozen Standard Life pension from the late 1980's we think he replied to the letter about 3 months ago giving his current details but we haven't heard anything from them, how long did it take for them to get in touch and does everybody get the shares do you know?

[enigma]

Hi Shazza. I'm afraid I can't help you a lot because I don't really know an awful lot about it myself. I moved house seventeen months ago and I redirected my mail for a short period of time to allow me enough time to update my new address. I thought that I had contacted Standard Life but obviously I hadn't as they had to make contact through the DWP due to the fact that my letter had been returned to them saying that I was no longer at that address. I have only just recently received this letter , so i'm not sure if the delay lies with Standard Life or with the DWP. As far as who's entitled , again , I can't really help you i'm afraid. I have heard from some people that everyone who has a Standard Life policy will be entitled to some sort of dividend but I have heard from others that only those eligible for the windfall payment will receive payment. What criteria has to be met though , I don't know. I apologise for not being able to give you much information but I seem to be as much in the dark as you and your husband. I do hope that someone will come along however to answer these questions. In the meantime , I can give you the telephone number for Standard Life if you wish to give them a call to find out what entitlements you may be eligible for. They were able to give me this information over the telephone. Here it is :

0845 60 60 075 - Lines open Mon - Fri 8am - 5.30 pm

I do hope that you get a good payout. Good luck x

[kempie]

Am I eligible for demutualisation shares?

[Shazza36]

Thanks enigma I'll get the other half to give them a ring.

[WendyS]

If you've been allocated some Standard Life shares, it's probably best not to do anything about selling them until after July 2007, because if you hold your demutualisation shares until then I believe you will be entitled to a further small free allocation.
Then, if you still want to hang onto them and you haven't used your ISA allocation for the tax year 2007-8, you could always put them into an equity ISA. Then any dividends you received would be tax free. At the moment the share price seems to be rising steadily so they may be worth keeping. If you want advice on how to put them into a self-select ISA, Hargreaves Lansdown who are based in Bristol (h-lco.uk) have the facility to do this and may be able to help you. But you will need to have a share certificate rather than Standard Life holding the shares for you in nominee form.