Nucleus: pensions and investments through a financial adviser

Nucleus is a UK provider of pensions and investment products, used mainly through financial advisers. It says it is trusted by over 250,000 customers and administered £117 billion of investments as at end June 2026¹. It is not a do-it-yourself platform: your first product has to be set up through an adviser, and the firm says it partners with more than 5,200 financial advice firms¹.

The platform holds what Nucleus calls integrated tax wrappers, meaning the different tax-efficient accounts sit alongside each other in one place². Alongside the investments, you can hold cash, and Nucleus works with a third party called Bondsmith to offer fixed term deposit and notice accounts from banks and building societies¹.

Nucleus has been part of the James Hay group since 2021, and the pension product it offers is still overseen by James Hay Pension Trustees¹. The platform continues to trade under the Nucleus name, and the FCA Register entry for the firm is unchanged.

What Nucleus is: a platform for pensions and investments used through financial advisers

Nucleus describes itself as a UK based provider of pensions and investment products, with a long history of helping people realise their financial goals¹. In practice it is an investment platform: a service that lets investors buy and hold a range of investments in one place online, sometimes with a smartphone app⁴. Platforms of this kind are sometimes called fund supermarkets⁴.

The difference with Nucleus is the route in. It deals with investors through financial advisers rather than directly, and your first product must be set up via a financial adviser¹. After that, most Nucleus products can be applied for online if you want to add to what you hold¹.

That structure shapes what the platform is for. An adviser typically recommends the investments, reviews them periodically, and handles the paperwork, while Nucleus provides the account, the administration and the online access. If you want to choose and manage your own investments without paying for advice, a platform built for direct customers would be the more usual route, and our guide to investing sets out how those work.

Nucleus is one of a number of adviser platforms in the UK. Our directory of pension and investment providers lists the firms that operate in this market.

Pensions and investment products on Nucleus

Nucleus offers a suite of integrated tax wrappers, which means the different account types sit on one platform under one login². The main ones a reader is likely to meet are a self-invested personal pension, a general investment account and an ISA.

A self-invested personal pension, usually shortened to SIPP, allows you to control the specific investments that make up your pension fund⁵. SIPPs allow you to hold multiple investments and products, so you can manage your pension fund yourself and have more control over it⁶. On an adviser platform, the adviser normally makes those choices with you rather than leaving you to do it alone. Our guide to pensions explains how SIPPs, personal pensions and workplace schemes compare.

A general investment account is a straightforward taxable investment account. Nucleus describes its version as a versatile account with a broad range of investments and easy access through the platform². Unlike an ISA, it does not shelter your returns from tax, and our guide to ISAs covers the difference.

Nucleus also offers an offshore bond, available to customers whose James Hay products have been upgraded to the Nucleus Platform². If you hold one of these, the details of your new product sit alongside your other accounts on the platform.

Cash on the platform: how interest on cash works

Most investment accounts hold some cash, and on Nucleus you can hold cash balances deliberately, either to help with the payment of adviser and service fees and charges, or as a temporary haven when markets are volatile². Cash accounts are available for the Nucleus SIPP and general investment account products, but not for the Nucleus ISA².

The important point for a saver is how the interest on that cash is set. Nucleus says its active management of customer cash means it can credit you with interest on cash in your product bank accounts, and that it retains some of what that cash earns¹. In other words, the interest you receive is decided by Nucleus rather than being the full amount the cash generates, and the difference is kept by the firm. That is a common arrangement on adviser platforms, but it is worth understanding because it affects what your cash is actually earning.

If you want to know what rate applies to your own account, ask your adviser or Nucleus directly. The platform does not publish a single rate that applies to everyone, and the amount can change.

Nucleus also lets you choose when income is paid out, with any payment date between the 1st and 28th of the month available to select¹. That flexibility matters if you are drawing an income from your pension and want it to land at a particular point in the month.

Fixed term and notice accounts through Bondsmith

Alongside the platform's own cash account, Nucleus partners with Bondsmith, an FCA regulated third party, to offer access to a range of fixed term deposit and notice accounts¹. Bondsmith provides fixed term deposit and notice accounts from FCA and PRA regulated banks and building societies, and they can be purchased online².

This gives you a way to hold part of your pension or investment cash in a deposit account with a bank or building society, arranged through the platform rather than by opening an account yourself. The accounts come from a range of institutions, so the rate and the terms depend on which one you choose.

One protection worth knowing about applies to fixed term savings generally. Under the rules firms must follow, a firm should provide notice of the expiry of the fixed term to the banking customer on paper or in another durable medium in good time before the end of the fixed term, explaining the consequences of expiry and the options available for dealing with the balance⁷.

Money held in fixed term deposit accounts from the Nucleus SIPP Cash Panel is covered separately by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, but that limit includes any personal or joint accounts you hold with the same banks outside Nucleus products¹. That point matters: the protection is per bank, not per account, so a deposit taken through Nucleus counts towards the same limit as an account you hold directly with that bank.

Who can use Nucleus: access through a financial adviser

Access to Nucleus runs through a financial adviser. Your first product must be set up via a financial adviser, and after that you can apply for most Nucleus products online¹. The firm says it partners with more than 5,200 financial advice firms¹.

That means you cannot simply sign up on the website the way you would with a direct-to-consumer platform. If you do not already have an adviser, you would need to appoint one first, and you would pay for their advice separately from the platform's own charges.

Advisers charge in different ways. Advice can be charged as an hourly rate, a set fee according to the work involved, a monthly retainer, or a percentage of the money invested⁸. Frequently, advisers charge a percentage of the assets that they advise on, which could be one or two per cent⁹. Which method applies to you is a matter for your agreement with the adviser, not something the platform sets.

If you are looking for free, impartial guidance before appointing anyone, there are services that provide it. Our guide to getting started with your money covers the basics, and the pensions section explains what regulated advice involves for pension decisions.

How charges on an adviser platform are made up

Charges on an adviser platform normally come in layers, and it helps to know which layer is which before you compare anything.

1. The adviser's own charge. What you pay for the advice and any ongoing reviews. This is often a percentage of the assets advised on, commonly one or two per cent, though hourly rates, fixed fees and monthly retainers are also used⁹.
2. The platform charge. What Nucleus charges for holding and administering the accounts. This is separate from the adviser's fee and is paid to the platform.
3. The underlying investment costs. Fund charges and similar costs, which come out of the money invested rather than being billed to you.

Nucleus does not publish a single set of figures that applies to every customer, because what you pay depends on the products you hold and the agreement you have with your adviser. The firm's own website and your adviser are the places to get today's figures for your circumstances. What is worth checking is that you understand each layer separately, so that a quoted percentage is clear about which part of the total it covers.

Where advice has gone wrong, there is a limit on how much of these charges can be reclaimed in a redress calculation.

Managing your account online and with your adviser

Day to day, you deal with two parties: your adviser, who handles the advice and the investment decisions, and Nucleus, which runs the account and the website.

Online access is through the Nucleus platform at www.nucleusfinancial.com, which is the address recorded on the firm's FCA Register entry³. The platform uses two factor authentication to keep your online account secure: each time you log in, you will be sent a one-time passcode to your mobile phone¹. If you have forgotten your login details, use the reset on the sign-in page, or ask your adviser, who can usually help you get back in.

Once you are in, you can see your accounts, your cash balance and your investments, and you can apply for most additional Nucleus products online¹. Your adviser will normally have their own view of your accounts and will act on your instructions.

If you are new to managing money online, our guide to everyday money tasks walks through the common jobs, and online banking explains how secure logins of this kind generally work.

Nucleus and James Hay: what the takeover means for customers

The James Hay Partnership acquired Nucleus in 2021, and the pension product Nucleus offers is still overseen by the James Hay Pension Trustees¹. The platform continues to operate under the Nucleus name, and the FCA Register entry for the firm is unchanged³.

For customers, the practical effects have been about products rather than the name on the door. Nucleus offers an offshore bond to customers whose James Hay products have been upgraded to the Nucleus Platform, so if you held a James Hay product you may find it now appears as a Nucleus product². You may also notice that the bank account you make pension payments into is called James Hay Pension Trustees Limited even though you are investing with Nucleus, which reflects the trustee arrangement behind the pension¹.

Where a provider is being sold or is changing its name, the firm should contact you to tell you the name of your new supplier and when your account will be moved¹⁰. If you are unsure which entity holds your account, your adviser or the firm's customer support can confirm it, and you can check the firm's status on the FCA Register¹¹.

Complaints and where to get help

If something goes wrong, the first step is normally to complain to the firm itself. Nucleus is an FCA authorised firm, so complaints about it can ultimately go to the Financial Ombudsman Service if you are not satisfied with the response³. The ombudsman is free to consumers and looks at complaints about investments, including cases involving unregulated collective investment schemes where advisers have promoted them¹².

Before that stage, it is worth putting your complaint in writing and keeping a record of dates and what was said. If your complaint is about advice you were given, the adviser's firm is the first port of call, and it will have its own complaints procedure. If you think you were mis-sold a financial product, there is a set process to follow, and our guide to consumer protection explains how it works¹³.

Free, impartial help is available if you are unsure where to start:

• MoneyHelper provides information about managing your money with online tools and a service to find a debt adviser¹⁴.
• In Northern Ireland, Advice NI offers anonymous, telephone, face-to-face or email help, and can contact creditors on your behalf or provide template letters with your permission¹⁵.
• The Debt Advice Foundation also offers advice with no need to wait or book an appointment¹⁶.
• If a complaint is about a creditor, StepChange sets out how to make one¹⁷.

If you have arranged a service and changed your mind, there are cancellation rights that may apply, and our guide to everyday money tasks covers the common ones¹⁸.

How your money is protected on Nucleus

Protection on an adviser platform works in layers, and it is worth knowing which layer covers what.

Investments held through an FCA or PRA authorised firm are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, and the provider must be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority or the Prudential Regulation Authority for that protection to apply¹⁹. Nucleus Financial Services Limited is authorised, with firm reference number 456117³. You can check any firm's status yourself using the FCA's firm checking tool¹¹.

Cash held in fixed term deposit accounts from the Nucleus SIPP Cash Panel is covered separately by the FSCS, but the limit includes any personal or joint accounts held with those banks outside Nucleus products¹. Because the limit applies per bank rather than per account, money you hold directly with a bank and money you hold with the same bank through Nucleus count together towards one limit.

For comparison, some savings products sit outside the FSCS altogether. NS&I is backed by HM Treasury and protects 100% of savings, which is a different arrangement from the scheme that covers banks and investment firms²¹.

The Pensions Regulator works with the Financial Conduct Authority to keep regulation aligned across the pensions sector, which is why the rules you meet on a platform and in a workplace scheme are broadly consistent²².