Best Personal Pension Providers UK (2024)

We have spent weeks comparing and reviewing the best pension providers in the UK market to give you our best recommendation for your situation. All of the platforms listed above are worthy options for your pension plan. Investing for the future seems like a long way off but the earlier you start investing in your pension, the longer your money has to grow and benefit from compound interest.

Your current personal circumstances will determine the best pension platform for you. Let’s take a look at what these modern pensions have to offer.

5 Best Pension Providers In The UK

Best Ready-Made Pension Provider

If you are looking for a pension provider who will manage your investments and make your investment choices for you based on the fund style you choose, Pensionbee is our recommendation. They have 8 funds available on their platform currently including a standard Tracker fund, a Tailored fund that adjusts your investments as you approach retirement and even an Impact fund which only invests in sustainable companies.

Pensionbee is a pioneer in the Digital retirement platform space. They have dedicated themselves to streamlining the pension management process allowing users to consolidate all of their old pensions in one place and easily invest for the future with their range of funds.

Pensionbee Key Features:

• Easy to move existing pensions into the platform
• 0.5% Fees on their Tracker plan
• 8 Investment plans are available
• Great customer support
• Automatic 25% Government Bonus on contributions
• Can withdraw your pension via a drawdown or annuity
• Supports self-employed people

Best Self-Managed Pension Provider

If you are someone who has an interest in investing and wants to personally manage your own pension, Hargreaves Lansdown is our recommendation. With them, you can buy and sell thousands of stocks and ETFs inside your personal pension.

They are one of the oldest and most trusted investment platforms in the UK. They also have an amazing support team and financial experts available to help you with your pension. I have personally used them for over 8 years and have been a happy customer throughout.

If you want to have full control over your pension with the ability to buy and sell individual assets, Hargreaves Lansdown is our choice.

Hargreaves Lansdown Key Features:

• Trade individual Stocks and ETFs in your pension
• 0.45% Pension fee on funds and 0.45% on shares capped at £200 per year
• Amazing customer support and long-standing reputation
• Easy To use Mobile App
• Pension Transfers Available

Best Pension Provider To Consolidate Old Pensions

We have discussed Pensionbee above in relation to ready-made portfolios but it is also the best platform on the market for consolidating your old pensions into a single account.

When you sign up to Pensionbee, you will be linked to a “Beekeeper” who will help you with the whole pension transfer process. When dealing with complicated financial situations such as pensions it’s always great to have someone you can contact to clear up any queries you may be having.

With Pensionbee, you simply give them as much information as possible about your old pensions and they will go out, find them and initiate the transfer process. Within 8-12 weeks you should have your old pension pots available to invest with Pensionbee.

Best Pension Provider With Transfer Bonus

Want to get a bonus for transferring your old pensions into a single provider? Wealthify is currently offering some pretty good transfer bonuses for customers.

• £50 bonus for transfers between £50 and £9,999
• £100 bonus for transfers between £10,000 and £19,999
• £200 bonus for transfers over £20,000

Wealthify is a robo-advisor platform meaning they have ready-made portfolios based on risk tolerance available for you to invest into. This is a great choice for passive investors who want to put money away each month and let their investment platform do the work for them.

Wealthify Key Features:

• Fixed platform fee of 0.6%
• Ready-made risk-based investment plans
• Live chat, phone and email support
• Pension transfer bonus available

Best Pension Provider For Self-Employed

Once again Pensionbee is making an appearance. If you are self-employed setting up your own personal pension is extremely important. Those who work for an employer will be automatically enrolled in a workplace pension. We self-employed people don’t have that luxury. Even though its probably the last thing on your mind while running a business it’s important to invest for your retirement.

Pensionbee offers personal pensions to sole traders and directors of Limited companies. As we have mentioned above, the app is easy to use and you can transfer any old pensions you had at previous jobs into your new Pensionbee account. Having everything in one place makes managing your pension as a self-employed person simple.

Pension Provider Comparison Table

Below we have compared the main features of each platform, so you can make an informed decision on where to invest your retirement pot.

Platform	Pensionbee	Penfold	Moneyfarm	Hargreaves Lansdown	Wealthify
Minimum Deposit	£0	£0	£500	£100	£1
Fees	0.5% Tracker fund fee (Other plans are more expensive) Platform fees and fund fees are combined into one fee.	0.75% Standard Plan (Other plans are more expensive) Platform fees and fund fees are combined into one fee.	Actively Managed: 0.75% – Up to £10k 0.7% (£10k – £20k) 0.65% (£20k – £50k 0.60% (£50k – £100k) 0.45% (£100k – £250k) 0.40% (£250k – £500k) 0.35% (Over £500k) Fixed Allocation: 0.45% (Up to £100k) 0.35% (£100k – £250k) 0.30% (£250k – £500k) 0.25% (Over £500k) Fund Fees: The average underlying fund fees at Moneyfarm are 0.2%	Funds: 0.45% (up to £250k) 0.25% (£250k – £1M) 0.10% (£1M – £2M) 0% (Over £2M) Shares: 0.45% capped at £200 per Year)	0.6%
Managed Portfolios	✅	✅	✅	❌	✅
# Of Portfolios Available	8	10	7	–	5
ETFs	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌
Stocks	❌	❌	❌	✅	❌
Transfer Old Pensions?	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
	Sign Up	Sign Up	Sign Up	Sign Up	Sign Up

Are These Pension Providers Safe?

Yes, all of the platforms we have recommended above are authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and are also protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

The FCA are the people who ensure these companies are following strict regulatory guidelines to keep your money safe. When choosing any investment app in the UK, make sure they are regulated by the FCA before investing.

If any of the companies above were to go out of business, you would be covered by the FSCS up to £85,000.

What Is A Pension?

A pension is like a long-term savings plan designed for your retirement years. Imagine putting a little money away regularly into a special account. When you retire, this account can either give you a lump sum of money or, more commonly, a regular income to help support you when you’re no longer working.

Key Points to Remember:

1. Contributions: This is the money you (and sometimes your employer) put into your pension pot over your working years.
2. Growth: Over time, the money in your pension pot can grow. It should be invested in things like stocks and bonds which produce a return on investment. That’s where the platforms we mentioned above come in.
3. Tax Benefits: Pensions come with tax advantages. For instance, the government might top up your contributions as a sort of ‘thank you’ for saving for your retirement.
4. Retirement Income: Once you reach a certain age, you can start taking money out of your pension. How you do this and when depends on the type of pension and your personal choices.

Think of a pension as your financial safety net for the future. It’s there to ensure that when you decide to hang up your work boots, you’ll have money to live on and enjoy your golden years!

The earlier you start contributing to your pension the better. The more time your money has to grow the more benefit you get from compounding interest. £1 invested today will be worth £32 in 35 years based on a 10% return. The more you contribute early on, the less you will have to worry about contributing closer to your pension age.

The Two Types Of Pension Apps

There are two main types of pension apps on the market. One is “Managed” platforms and the other is “Self-managed” platforms.

Managed Pension Platforms

A managed platform has ready-made portfolios for you to invest your pension contributions into. You usually choose a portfolio based on your risk tolerance and the platform will manage those investments for you. This is great for passive investors who don’t want to be involved in the day-to-day of buying stocks and shares.

Our favorite managed pension platform is Pensionbee. They have 8 ready-made portfolios you can start investing in today.

Self-managed Pension Platforms

If you want to buy and sell individual stocks and ETFs inside your pension, you will have to go with a self-managed pension provider. Here you have complete control over your money and build a portfolio of individual stocks or create a solid portfolio from a range of ETFs.

This type of platform can be a great choice for more experienced investors who want to actively manage and balance their own portfolios. Our platform of choice for this is Hargreaves Lansdown.

Workplace Pension vs SIPP

It’s useful to understand the difference between a workplace pension and a Self Invested Personal Pension (SIPP). Here’s what you need to know:

Workplace Pension

A workplace pension is a retirement savings plan set up by an employer for their employees. Here’s what you need to know:

1. Automatic Enrolment: If you meet certain criteria, such as being between 22 and the State Pension age and earning more than a specific threshold, you’re automatically enrolled by your employer into their pension scheme.
2. Contributions: Both you and your employer contribute to the pension. Often, the more you decide to put in, the more your employer might contribute, up to a certain point.
3. Investment Choice: Typically, workplace pensions offer a limited range of investment options. The pension provider or scheme decides where your money is invested, although you may have some say in the level of risk you’re comfortable with.

Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP)

A SIPP is a type of personal pension scheme that allows individuals to make their own investment decisions:

1. Flexibility: Unlike workplace pensions, SIPPs offer a wider choice of investments. You can pick and choose from stocks, shares, funds, commercial property, and more.
2. Contributions: There’s no employer contribution in a SIPP since it’s a personal pension. However, you can still benefit from tax relief on your contributions, just as with other pension types.
3. Control: A SIPP is ideal for those who want more control over where their money is invested. It’s a hands-on approach and suits people who either have a good understanding of investments or are willing to consult with financial advisers.

How Much Should I Contribute To My Pension?

If you’re in a workplace pension there is a minimum 8% contribution level. This is from you and your employer’s contribution combined. While this is a good start, you should really be contributing more. Some employers will offer more than a 4% match. You should contribute until the maximum amount they will match. This is essentially free money. After that you can invest more through your own personal pension with one of the providers listed above.

There is a good rule of thumb to work out how much you should contribute as a portion of your pre-tax salary.

Take the age you start saving for your pension and halve it. You should then aim to put this % of your pre-tax income into your pension each year until retirement.

So, someone at the age of 25 should be putting away 12.5% of their pre-tax income into a pension each month. If your employer is contributing 4% you only really have to put away 8.5% of your pre-tax income which isn’t too bad.

This is why it’s so beneficial to start a pension earlier. The earlier you start the lower % of your income you will be required to put into your pension.

There are certain situations where saving for your pension doesn’t make the most sense such as when you have high-interest debts. Check out our 7 Steps to Personal Finance to figure out how to get on top of your finances.

How The Government Pension Bonus Works

When you contribute money to your pension, you will get a 25% top-up from the government.

This is because pension contributions are intended to be tax-free. However, when you are contributing money, you’ve already paid tax on that money, so the government reimburses you.

They do this as they want to incentivise people to put money into their pensions. They realise that the state pension is no longer large enough to live on and people will need their own private pension to live comfortably in retirement.

If you pay higher rate or additional rate tax you will be able to claim back 40% or 45%. You can do this each year on your tax return based on contributions throughout the year. You can do this on your self-assessment tax return.

With the 25% government bonus, most pension providers will automatically claim this bonus from the government and add it to your account when you contribute. This can take 2 to 3 months to process.

In a workplace pension your pension contribution is taken out of your salary before is taxed. This means you are already receiving the government bonus when contributing as you are not paying tax on your contribution.

Final Thoughts

For most people, Pensionbee will be the best choice for a personal pension. Their app is easy to use with cheap fees and good portfolio performance. If you want a passive way to invest for retirement without thinking too much about your investments, Pensionbee is our recommendation.

If you want to manage your own portfolio and buy individual stocks and ETFs for retirement, Hargreaves Lansdown is your best option.

Read More From Moneysprout:

• Pensionbee vs Penfold
• Pensionbee Review
• Hargreaves Lansdown Review