See how we compare to other workplace pension providers

What to look for when choosing a pension.

Why comparing workplace pensions matters

Choosing the right workplace pension scheme helps you spend less time on admin and gives your employees confidence to save for their future.
Use our comparison table to see how we measure up against other workplace pension providers, and why over 100,000 businesses trust us.

What you should think about when choosing a workplace pension scheme:

Provider credentials

	People's Pension	Smart Pension	Nest	NOW: Pension
Provider Credentials
Length of time providing pensions in the UK?	Over 40 years	Over 10 years	Over 17 years	Over 13 years
Defaqto rating ¹	5 stars	5 stars	5 stars	2 stars
Employers signed up	Over 100,000	Over 90,000	Over 1m	Over 24,000
Number of members enrolled	Over 7m	Over 1.5m	Over 13.5m	Over 2m
Funds under management²	Over £35bn	Over £6bn	Over £49bn	Over £5bn

Table overview

Here’s what each footnote means.

1 - Defaqto rating - Defaqto is an independent financial research company focused on supporting better financial decision making. People’s Pension has a Defaqto 5 Star Rating for auto-enrolment.
2 - Funds under management - The value of assets managed on behalf of members in the pension scheme.

Pension features

	People's Pension	Smart Pension	Nest	NOW: Pension
Pension features
Tax relief at source ³	✔ Relief at source is the default option. Net pay arrangement also available	✘ Net pay arrangement only	✔	✘ Net pay arrangement only⁴
Help with submitting the declaration of compliance to The Pensions Regulator?⁵	✔	✘	✘	✘
Help with re-enrolment?⁶	✔ Guide, checklist, report to identify who to re-enrol, and online information	✔ Online information	✔ Online information	✔ Guide
At retirement guidance?	✔ Online	✔ Online	✔ Online	✔ Online
Assessment tool? ⁷	✔	✔	✘	✘
How many fund options are available?	8 ⁸	18 ⁹	6¹⁰	3 ¹¹
Uncrystallised Funds Pension Lump Sum option available?¹²	✔	✔	✔	✔
Flexi Access Drawdown available? ¹³	✔	✔	✘	✘
Salary sacrifice available?¹⁴	✔	✔	✔	✔

Table overview

Here's what each footnote means.

3 - Tax relief at source - With Tax Relief at source pension contributions are taken after they’re taxed. People’s Pension then claims tax relief at 20% on these contributions which is added to your employees’ pension savings. If your employees pay higher rates of tax on some of their earnings they may be entitled to further tax relief. Net pay arrangement takes pension contributions from wages before any tax is calculated. This means they benefit immediately from full tax relief on the employee contributions. If earnings are below the starting rate for income tax, your employees don’t benefit from tax relief (the government contribution)
4 - Net pay arrangement only - NOW: Pensions allows members, who earn below the annual personal allowance and therefore cannot obtain tax relief on pensions through their employer’s payroll, to apply to top up their pension with the equivalent annual tax relief.
5 - Help with submitting the declaration of compliance to The Pensions Regulator? - The declaration of compliance is the form that tells The Pensions Regulator what employers have done to comply with their employer automatic enrolment duties. If this isn’t sent to The Pensions Regulator within five months of an employer’s staging date, they could be fined.
6 - Help with re-enrolment? - Every three years an employer will need to put staff who were eligible jobholders (or 'type 1' members) back into their pension scheme if they've left it, and if they meet the criteria for being put into a scheme.
7 - Assesment tool - A tool that helps employers to check whether any of their employees should be automatically enrolled in a workplace pension.

8 - How many fund options are available with People's Pension?
- B&CE Global Investments (up to 60% shares) (used in the Cautious Lifestyle Profile)
- B&CE Global Investments (up to 85% shares) (used in the Balanced Lifestyle Profile)
- B&CE Global Investments (up to 100% shares) (used in the Adventurous Lifestyle Profile)
- Annuity
- Cash
- Ethical
- Pre-Retirement
- Shariah
9 - How many fund options are available with Smart Pension?
- Smart UK FTSE 100 Equity Index Fund
- Smart World (ex UK) Developed Equity Index Fund
- Smart North America Equity Index Fund
- Smart World Emerging Markets Equity Index Fund
- Smart Ethical Global Equity Index Fund
- Smart Sharia Fund
- Smart Future Fund
- Smart All Stocks Index–Linked Gilts Index Fund
- Smart Overseas Bond Index Fund - GBP Hedged
- Smart Cash Fund
- Smart Income Fund
- Smart Lower Risk Fund
- Smart Annuity Fund
- Smart Growth Fund - Higher Risk
- Smart Growth Fund - Lower Risk
- Smart Growth Fund - Moderate Risk
- Smart De-risking Fund
10 - How many fund options are available with Nest?
- Nest Retirement Date Funds
- Nest Ethical Fund
- Nest Shariah Fund
- Nest Higher Risk Fund
- Nest Lower Growth Fund
- Nest Guided Retirement Fund
11- How many fund options are available with NOW: Pensions?
- Diversified Growth Fund on joining
- Transferred to one of two Retirement Countdown Funds depending on time to selected retirement age
12 - Uncrystallised Funds Pension Lump Sum option available? - Members can take a number of lump sums from their pension over time. And each time they take a lump sum, 25% of it is tax free and they pay tax on the other 75%.
13 - Flexi Access Drawdown available? - Flexi-access drawdown is a way of taking your pension a bit at a time. It's where you take your tax-free lump sum up front and then take the rest of your money bit by bit over time as lump sum withdrawals or a regular income. Your money will stay invested until you're ready to take it.
14 - Salary sacrifice available? - 'Salary sacrifice' (also called 'salary exchange') is an arrangement employers may make available to employees – the employee agrees to reduce their earnings by an amount equal to the employee’s pension contributions. In exchange for reducing the amount of earnings paid to employees, the employer then agrees to pay the total pension contributions – from the employee and the employer. Any contributions paid to us will be treated as employer only.

Charges

	People's Pension	Smart Pension	Nest	NOW: Pension
Charges
Employee management charge?¹⁵	0.50%	0.30%	0.30%	0.30%
Savings reward? (Employee rebate on management charge)	✔ Between 0.05% for savings over £3,000 and 0.3% for savings over £50,000. ¹⁶	✘	✘	✘
Other employee charges?	✔ £6.50 annual charge (equivalent to around £0.54 per month) – this charge is not taken from pots below £106.50 when the charge is calculated	✔ £21 per year (equivalent to around £1.75 per month) – this charge is not taken from pots below £100 when the charge is calculated	✔ 1.8% of every contribution	✔ £21 per year depending on earnings (equivalent to around £1.75 per month) – this charge is not taken from pots below £100 when the charge is calculated
Employer charges?	✔ One-off set-up charge of £500 plus VAT, but free of charge if signing up through an adviser, accountant, bookkeeper or other payroll professional ¹⁷	✔ May add a monthly employer account charge of £22 plus VAT - plus a one-off set up fee of £250 and a monthly charge of £50 if employers pay contributions by BACS	✘	✔ Ongoing monthly charge between £12.50 and £36 plus VAT (based on number of employees and use of payroll bureau)

Table overview

Here's what each footnote means.

15 - Employee management charge? - With People’s Pension it’s 0.5% – so 50p out of every £100 of the value of their pension savings.
16 - Between 0.05% for savings over £3,000 and 0.3% for savings over £50,000 -
- Up to £3k, no rebate is given
- Over £3k and up to £10k, we give back 0.05%
- Over £10k and up to £25k, we give back 0.15%
- Over £25k and up to £50k, we give back 0.25%
- Over £50k, we give back 0.3%
17 - One-off set-up charge of £500 plus VAT, but free of charge if signing up through an adviser, accountant, bookkeeper or other payroll professional - There’s no charge for:
- Customers switching from other pension providers (subject to discretion)
- Existing customers adding new subsidiary companies to the scheme
- Existing customers of any of People’s Partnership other products

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Last updated: March 2026. Comparisons are based on information from Defaqto, company websites and awarding bodies. Content is reviewed every 6 months.