Why has my performance figure changed?

A performance figure tells you how an investment has done over a set period. When it changes, the usual reasons are ordinary: markets moved, charges were taken, or the period being measured is not the one you thought. A defined contribution pension pot can rise or fall depending on investment returns and the contributions made, so a figure that falls is not by itself a sign that money has gone missing¹.

What you are looking at also matters. A fund's published return is the return on the fund over a fixed period. Your own return depends on when you paid in, when you took money out, and what you paid in charges. Two people in the same fund over the same year can see different figures, and both can be right.

This page explains what each kind of figure measures, why it moves, and what to do if a number looks wrong. It does not tell you whether to buy, hold or sell anything.

What a performance figure shows

A performance figure is a comparison. It takes the value of an investment at one date and the value at another, and expresses the difference as a percentage or an amount. Everything about the figure follows from those two dates and from what is included between them.

Official guidance on personal pensions sets out the three things a payout depends on: how much has been paid in, how the fund's investments have performed, and how you decide to take your money¹. A performance figure captures only the middle one. It says nothing about the first or the third, which is why a fund can post a positive figure while your own pot is flat.

The period matters just as much as the number. A figure labelled "since you started" measures from your first contribution, which may be years before the fund's own published period begins. A figure labelled with a single year measures twelve months. The same investment can show a gain over ten years and a loss over one, and both figures can be correct.

Where a figure comes from a fund document, the basis is set out in the document itself. Rules on what these documents must contain have changed: the requirement for key information documents to contain "performance scenarios" was changed to "information on performance", and an earlier version of the document included information about the product's past performance, rather than future performance scenarios⁵. If you are comparing an older document with a newer one, the figures may not be measuring the same thing.

Market movements change the figure day to day

Most investments are priced by the market, and markets move. A fund holding shares will rise and fall with the value the market puts on those shares. The Financial Ombudsman Service has described a case in which an investor held funds with high levels of equity investment, which meant that they were vulnerable to stock market fluctuations⁶. That vulnerability is the mechanism behind most day to day changes in a performance figure.

Official statistics show how much these measures move in ordinary conditions. The Scottish Consumer Sentiment Indicator's current economic performance sub-indicator was up by 3.1 points in October 2025⁷. A separate release recorded the attitudes to spending and expected economic performance indicators falling by 4.5 points to -1.4 points, month on month, in March 2025⁸. These are sentiment measures rather than investment returns, but they show the size of the swings that appear in published figures from one month to the next.

Property figures move in the same way. UK property transactions in February 2026 were 5.6% lower than a year earlier, seasonally adjusted⁹. A figure that changes by several percentage points over a year is normal, not a sign of an error.

Charges and fees reduce the figure you see

Charges are taken from the investment, so they reduce the figure whether the market rose or fell. Official guidance notes that pension charges have been reducing over time, so new schemes might have lower charges than old schemes². That means two people in similar funds can see different net figures purely because of when they joined.

The gap between a fund's published return and your own return is often charges plus timing. A fund's published figure is usually shown before or after a stated level of charges, and the document will say which. Your account statement shows what was actually deducted.

Charges are not the only deduction. Where an employer goes out of business and a trust-based defined contribution scheme is involved, you will get your pension, but your pension pot might be reduced because administration costs are paid by members' pension pots¹⁰. That is a reduction in the pot that has nothing to do with investment performance.

The ombudsman has looked at complaints about charges in pension transfers, including cases where an adviser may not have disclosed higher charges, loss of guarantees such as guaranteed annuity rates, or market value adjustments on with-profits funds¹¹. If a figure has fallen because a charge was applied that you were not told about, that is a complaint about disclosure, not about performance.

Contributions, withdrawals and timing: why your return differs from the fund's

Your return is not the fund's return. It is the fund's return weighted by when your money was in it.

Money paid in just before a fall loses more than money paid in just after. Money taken out just before a rise misses the gain. Neither shows up in the fund's published figure, which assumes a single sum invested for the whole period.

Official guidance on Help to Save makes the point in a different context: withdrawing money could mean you are not able to earn a final bonus, depending on how much you withdraw and when¹². The principle is the same across investments. The timing of a withdrawal changes what you end up with.

Early retirement shows the effect from the other direction. If you retire early you have had fewer years to pay in, so your pension fund will be smaller, and the fund must provide income over a longer period, so the pension will be smaller¹³. A performance figure that looks weak may simply reflect a shorter contribution period.

Past period or since you started: how each figure is measured

Two figures on the same statement can cover different periods, and that alone explains most apparent contradictions.

A figure for a past period, such as a single year, measures from one fixed date to another. A figure for "since you started" measures from your first contribution. If you started investing during a downturn, your since-you-started figure will look worse than any single-year figure the fund publishes.

Official statistics show how much difference the measurement period makes. Statistics comparing outcomes before and after a disability benefit reassessment are updated on an annual basis each December¹⁴. A separate set of benefit combination statistics is updated every six months in February and August, with the underlying data updated every quarter, in February, May, August and November¹⁴. The headline figure and the underlying data move on different cycles, so a figure can change between releases without the underlying position changing.

Revisions happen too. The UK House Price Index introduced a minor improvement in the way datasets are linked from 17 December 2025, with small revisions back to January 2025¹⁵. When a method is improved, past figures are restated. A figure that has changed since you last looked may have been revised rather than recalculated.

The Financial Lives 2020 survey made changes to some published results to improve data weighting, with very few changing by more than one percentage point¹⁶. That is the scale of a typical methodological revision: small, but visible if you are watching a single number.

Changes to your fund or investment mix

A figure can change because the thing being measured changed. Funds alter their holdings, and a ready-made or model portfolio can be rebalanced. When the mix shifts, the performance figure shifts with it, even if nothing was bought or sold in your account.

The ombudsman's case study describes an investor whose funds had high levels of equity investment, which meant that they were vulnerable to stock market fluctuations⁶. Where a fund's equity content is reduced or increased, the size of the swings in its performance figure changes accordingly.

Where a fund changes objective, merges or closes, the figure you see afterwards may not be comparable with the one before. The same applies where a provider changes the basis on which it displays a figure. A figure previously displayed as 97.46% will now display as -2.54%, and a figure previously displayed as 136.66% will now display as 36.66%, according to the provider's own explanation of the change¹⁷.

When a changed figure may be a mistake

Most changes have an explanation. A few do not, and those are worth pursuing.

Errors in published figures do happen. A Work Capability Assessment evidence based review was revised after a transposition of figures was found in a table, with the table revised in the relevant chapter¹⁸. That is an official publication correcting its own arithmetic. Providers make the same kind of error.

The consequences of a wrong figure depend on what it feeds into. Official guidance on Self Assessment record keeping states that you may have to pay interest and penalties if your figures turn out to be wrong and you have not paid enough tax¹⁹. Where a figure feeds a benefit claim, the guidance is firmer: a claim might be stopped or reduced if you do not report a change straight away or you give incorrect information²⁰. Basic State Pension guidance adds that you may have to repay the money if you did not report a change straight away, gave wrong information, or were overpaid by mistake²¹.

If a figure on a statement looks wrong, the practical steps are to check the period it covers, check whether charges are included, and check whether the basis has changed. If none of those explains it, ask the provider in writing.

Getting help if you think a figure is wrong

Start with the provider. The Financial Ombudsman Service's guidance is to talk to your provider first, as it needs to have the chance to put things right²². The same principle applies across the ombudsman's work: you will need to have made a complaint to the provider you are unhappy about first⁴.

If the provider does not resolve it, the ombudsman can look at the complaint. It is free to consumers. For pensions, the service handles complaints about transfers from personal pension arrangements, including cases involving higher charges, loss of guarantees such as guaranteed annuity rates, or market value adjustments on with-profits funds¹¹. The ombudsman has also set out changes to the interest rate applied to some of the awards it makes, to better reflect present economic conditions²⁰.

Where a figure has changed because a firm has failed, the position is different. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme covers certain failures, and its targeted support service exists for customers of firms that have failed⁴. Poor investment performance on its own is not a compensation matter.

For free, impartial help with a pension decision, Pension Wise offers guidance, including on adjustable income, where it notes that income is not guaranteed because the pension remains invested and its value can rise and fall until you take the money³. MoneyHelper provides free guidance across pensions and investments.