Scottish Widows Workplace Savings Podcast

EBC to Retiree

Damian Stancombe, an award-winning pension personality and one of the most interesting characters in workplace savings, joins me for this fascinating podcast. It's a game of two halves.
In the first half, he shares his unique views on the state of the UK Workplace Savings Market, drawing on more than 30 years of experience—some fabulous insight from inside the world of Employee Benefits and what makes a great partnership.
In the second, Damian shares his very public journey into retirement. He set up a movement, 60 paydays to retirement, and is now living that early retirement. He's thoughtfully sharing his insight, concerns and lessons learned - worthwhile lessons for everyone in their Fifties!

Empowering Financial Futures: International Women’s Day

Join us for a special International Women’s Day podcast hosted by Jill Henderson, Head of Workplace Strategic Relationships, Jackie Leiper, Managing Director at Scottish Widows, and her daughter Rebecca. In this insightful episode, we hear about their personal journey of closing the pension gap and explore the importance of meaningful financial planning conversations.
Discover practical tips and inspiring stories on how women can take control of their financial futures. Whether you're just starting your financial journey or looking to enhance your planning strategies, this podcast offers valuable insights for everyone.

An Employer's Story

In this episode, we flip from the provider view to the Employer view.
After nearly 40 years in the workplace pension market, the majority of which was spent working in-house to run pension schemes for some of the UK's biggest employers, my guest Paul Bird has lots of insight into delivering great pension benefits for employees.
In this podcast, he shares his story—from closing DB schemes to helping colleagues retire early. Paul is proud to have walked the walk rather than just talked the talk and shares his story with us. It's different when you have to walk past colleagues every day for whom you are enacting pension scheme decisions—an extra impetus to get it right!

It's CEO time

Yes, kicking off the 2025 series of the Scottish Widows Workplace Savings Podcast, Robert Cochran is joined by Scottish Widows CEO Chira Barua. They discuss Chira's first 18 months in role and his big plans for 2025 and beyond.
The discussion includes - views on adequacy, digitising pensions, gamifying financial experience, Mansion House Reforms, Chira's love of the guitar and empowering individuals to take control of their own financial future.

Master Trust Unpacked

In our final podcast of 2024, Robert Cochran, our Innovation and Engagement Specialist is joined by our very own Master Trust Lead, Sharon Bellingham.
Sharon shares her invaluable experience and insights, on a journey that takes us from Mansion House and the Secondary Market, through to DE&I and what matters most to our members.

Pension Attention Season 2024

Over 60,000 employees have taken part in the Scottish Widows RetireWell Pension Education sessions this year with a big boost for Pay Your Pension Some Attention.
In this episode, Robert Cochran is joined by Stuart Hopley to discuss exactly what pension scheme members are asking about their pensions, whilst delving into the success of the main Pension Attention campaign too.

Women and Retirement Report 2024

The 2024 Women and Retirement report highlights the progress made over the past 20 years in narrowing the gender pension gap.
This podcast reviews the key milestones reached in the past two decades, delves into this year's findings, and explores why further action is essential to fully close the gender pensions gap.

Financial Wellness – a Talk Money Week special

In this podcast, Robert is joined by two Scottish Widows colleagues, Rachel Proudfoot and Chris Smart, as they examine the world beyond workplace pensions.
 
In this episode, they discuss financial wellness, financial resilience, and some of the ways that young people, vulnerable customers, and policyholders alike can manage their finances.
 

Pensions Dashboard(s)

In this special, Robert Cochran is joined by ‘Mr Pension Dashboard’ Richard Smith, who has travelled the length of Europe by train analysing all that European pension dashboards have to offer.
For the younger perspective, he is also joined by 20-something Oliver Webster as they discuss what the latest announcements from the government mean for pension dashboards– and just how big a revolution for pension engagement the dashboards promise to be.

Graeme Bold - doing good things at scale

In this episode, Robert Cochran is joined by Graeme Bold who has led the Workplace Savings Business at Scottish Widows for 5 years and overseen a digital revolution at Scottish Widows - growing the business to over £100 Billion of assets - whilst delivering best in class digital tools for scheme members and employers. We discuss his 5 years at Scottish Widows, his hopes for the next 5 years, pension dashboard and of course his love for Pension Engagement Season - he even dons the t-shirt.