Building on the workplace pension fund analysis we kicked off in 2024, this latest analysis pulls together performance data from even more of the UK’s largest workplace pension funds. In total, we’ve analysed 116 pension funds, from 11 top UK workplace pension providers, collectively holding more than £245bn of UK retirement savers’ money.
In short, if you’re in a workplace pension, this information could give you more money in retirement, or help you get there quicker.
Millions of UK workers are losing out on money for their retirement due to underperforming pension funds. Knowing how your pension is performing (and how that performance compares to industry benchmarks) is the first step in ensuring your pension pot will be enough to fund your retirement goals.
A quick reminder about all past performance data: The data on this page is past performance data. While this data enables you to see which funds have historically been achieving the highest and lowest returns, past performance is not a guarantee of future performance. Investment returns can fall and rise and all investing involves risk.
The following interactive chart is an overview of the best and worst performing funds overall from the 116 we analysed.
To see the two ends of the spectrum, toggle between the ‘Best performing’ and ‘Worst performing’ buttons.
Why have we split funds into categories?
While looking at the best and worst performers overall highlights just how much performance does vary, it doesn’t allow for the different aims of the funds. Some, for example, specifically avoid high risk/return investments in favour of more steady growth over the long-term. How far you are from retirement will often determine the amount of risk your fund manager is happy to see your money exposed to.
Therefore, we’ve also measured performance within specific risk categories. We’ve used two measures of risk, using two different
Understanding ABI benchmarks
This benchmark allows us to measure fund performance by the proportion of the fund that is invested in equities. Equities are considered to have more risk attached to them than other assets, such as UK government and corporate bonds, and therefore determine how much risk each fund is exposed to, and what kind of returns the fund managers are aiming to achieve.
All funds we’ve covered fit into one of the following ABI categories:
Understanding risk rating benchmarks
We’ve also analysed results using the risk rating allocated to each fund.
A fund risk rating is a numerical score (usually between 1 – 7) assigned to an investment fund that indicates how volatile its value is likely to be. It measures the potential for price fluctuations and therefore, the level of risk associated with investing in that fund.
Funds with a rating of 1 are less likely to lose money, but your money might not grow as much, because risk and return are linked. Funds with a rating of 7 have a much higher risk of losing money, but a higher potential for your money to grow over the long term.
While most providers use this 1-7 scale, some like to use a slightly different measure (just to confuse things!). To account for those differences, we’ve grouped all risk ratings in categories so we’re comparing like-with-like. So you’ll see them referred to as:
Even using these measures, it’s important to note that not all funds within a category will have the same objectives. Some fund managers will be using other benchmarks, such as returns a certain percentage above the Consumer Price Index, or to beat a particular index such as the FTSE 100, for example. Some have very vague measures of success, such as ‘the prospect of capital growth over the long term’, which is why we have not used funds’ own objectives as our main benchmark.
To view fund objectives, you’ll need to view the fund factsheet providers are obliged to produce for each fund.
Good questions to ask yourself are:
We always recommend seeking help from an Independent Financial Advisor or Independent Financial Planner if you have any questions around the suitability of funds and pension plans for your retirement goals and financial circumstances.
There’s another benchmark that it’s interesting to use as a comparison: SIPPs.
A SIPP is a ‘self-invested personal pension’ and it’s a type of private pension that allows you to take complete control of your pension investments. Our Best personal pension and SIPP page lists our highly recommended providers for this kind of pension based on fees, how much help you can get, the types of investments available and more helpful features.
We regularly monitor the performance of the ready-made portfolios offered by the UK’s top SIPP providers. Ready-made portfolios are often chosen by those who want to have greater control over their pensions, but don’t want to make individual investment decisions themselves.
Here’s how the performance of these funds measures up to the workplace pension funds we’ve analysed.
There are some very poorly performing funds within these results, with some even posting negative returns. That means billions of pounds of people’s retirement savings are not achieving their full potential.
Why is that a problem?
Sitting in an underperforming fund for 30-40 years could vs choosing a fund that performs well and achieves its objectives could mean the difference between a dream retirement, and just surviving when your employment years end.
The first step to ensuring the best outcome possible for your pension pot, is to check your fund’s performance against the industry benchmarks. That will help you see whether your fund is ticking along nicely and measuring up to others with similar objectives, or whether your fund’s performance has been falling behind.
All you need is the name of the fund in which your workplace pension is invested. This information should be freely available within your customer portal if you have one set up with your pension provider, or correspondence with your provider. Contact your workplace, or pension provider if you’re not sure.
Many of the funds we’ve included in this analysis are
Default funds are based on the likely best interests of the ‘average’ pension saver. They do not consider your personal aspirations for your retirement, or your personal attitude towards risk.
If you are worried that your fund isn’t serving you well, consider other funds with different objectives. Seek advice from a retirement specialist independent financial adviser or planner if you are at all concerned you might not be in the most suitable pension fund for your goals.
In the past, it was up to workers to opt into their employer’s pension scheme. But since 2012, employers have been required to automatically enrol their workers into a workplace pension scheme. It’s now a case of opting out, rather than opting in. If you do nothing, you will have pension contributions taken from your pay.
There are two main types of pensions: a defined contribution (DC) pension, which is based on how much you have paid into your pension pot, and a defined benefit (DB) pension. DB pensions are far less common today than they once were. These pensions are based on what your salary was and how long you’d worked for your employer.