Scottish Widows has removed early exit fees across its personal pension policies, enabling customers to switch to alternative products or providers, or to exercise pension freedoms, free of charge.

This follows the announcement in Spring last year that the company would remove exit fees on its workplace pension policies – which means no customer will see an exit fee on their Scottish Widows pension.

All exit charges will be removed before the charge cap deadline of 31st March.

Scottish Widows believes providers must do more to make pensions work better for customers and removing exit fees altogether ensures there are no barriers for those wishing to access their money earlier than they expected or choosing to move to a different pension arrangement.

David Lascelles, retirement spokesperson at Scottish Widows, said: “It’s only fair that people who have saved responsibly and diligently are allowed to access or move their funds without being charged to do so; that’s why we’ve gone one step further than the requirements and removed them altogether.

“This means our customers can make full use of pension freedoms, if they wish to do so, and not feel restricted in any way.”