Assurance

Independent assurance report to the Directors of Standard Life plc

We have been engaged by the directors of Standard Life plc ('Standard Life') to perform an independent assurance engagement in respect of selected performance information (hereafter 'Selected Information') contained in the "Selected Key Performance Indicators" section of the Sustainability Report on the website of Standard Life plc (hereafter "the Report") for the year ended 31 December 2010.

Scope and Subject Matter

The Selected Information for the year ended 31 December 2010 subject to limited assurance is presented on Our Key Perfomance Indicators; it consists of the following:

UK customer satisfaction level
Staff who took part in the Transformation Tracker Survey
Senior leaders participating in our Accelerated Development Scheme
Shareholder meetings at which Standard Life voted
Environmental, Social and Governance engagements
Group carbon footprint
Total Community Contribution

We were not engaged to report on comparative information for the prior year ended 31 December 2009 or earlier reported years.

Respective responsibilities of the Directors and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

The directors are responsible for the preparation of the Sustainability Report and including the preparation of Selected Information in accordance with the criteria set out in Standard Life's Reporting Criteria (as set out on Our Key Perfomance Indicators).

Our responsibility is to form an independent conclusion, based on limited assurance procedures, on whether anything has come to our attention to indicate that the Selected Information has not been fairly stated, in all material respects, in accordance with Standard Life's Reporting Criteria.

We are in compliance with the applicable independence and competency requirements of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) Code of Ethics. Our team comprised assurance practitioners and relevant subject matter experts.

This report, including the conclusion, has been prepared for the directors of Standard Life as a body, to assist the directors in reporting Standard Life's performance in relation to sustainability. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the directors as a body and Standard Life for our work or this report save where terms are expressly agreed and with our prior consent in writing.

Assurance work performed

We conducted this limited assurance engagement in accordance with International Standard on Assurance Engagements 3000 (Revised) - 'Assurance Engagements other than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information' ('ISAE3000') issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board.

We performed the following limited assurance procedures:

Evaluated the design and implementation of key processes and controls over the Selected Information;
Assessed the source data used to prepare the Selected Information for 2010, including re-performing a sample of calculations;
Carried out analytical procedures over the Selected Information;
At a Group level, examined on a selective basis the preparation and collation of the Selected Information, as well as making inquiries of management;
Reviewed the presentation of the Selected Information.

A limited assurance engagement is substantially less in scope than a reasonable assurance engagement under ISAE 3000. Consequently, the nature, timing and extent of procedures for gathering sufficient appropriate evidence are deliberately limited relative to a reasonable assurance engagement.

Limitations

Non-financial performance information is subject to more inherent limitations than financial information, given the characteristics of the subject matter and the methods used for determining such information. The absence of a significant body of established practice on which to draw allows for the selection of different but acceptable preparation techniques which can result in materially different results and can impact comparability. The precision of different measurement techniques and processes may also vary. Furthermore, the nature and methods used to determine such information, as well as the criteria may change over time. It is important to read the Selected Information in the context of Standard Life's Reporting Criteria.

The Customer Satisfaction and the Employee Engagement results rely on information provided by separate third party companies. These are prepared based on a customer interview programme and employee survey programme, respectively. Our assurance work has not included an examination of the interview exercises or the information provided by the customers or employees to the interviewing organisations.

Conclusion

Based on the results of the assurance work performed, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that, for the year ended 31 December 2010, the Selected Information has not been fairly stated, in all material respects, in accordance with Standard Life's Reporting criteria.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP,
Chartered Accountants,
Edinburgh
29 March 2011

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