Junior SIPPs: pensions for children

A Junior SIPP is a self-invested personal pension opened on behalf of a child. It works like an adult SIPP: money paid in is invested, and the person running the account chooses the investments rather than being limited to a ready-made fund. The difference is who holds it. A Junior SIPP must be opened by a parent or legal guardian for a child under 18, and while the money belongs to the child from the start, the parent or guardian manages it until the child turns 18¹.

The defining feature is the lock. Money in a Junior SIPP cannot normally be taken out until the child reaches the normal minimum pension age, which is currently 55 and rises to 57 from 6 April 2028³. That makes it the longest-term investment most children will ever hold, and it is the main thing to weigh against the tax advantages of a pension. MoneyHelper, the government-backed guidance service, puts the trade-off plainly: the money is locked away until the saver is at least 55, or 57 after April 2028².

A Junior SIPP is one of several ways to build up money for a child's future. The alternatives include a Junior ISA, which the child can empty at 18, children's savings accounts, and Premium Bonds. This page explains what a Junior SIPP is, who can pay into one, what happens at each age, how it compares with a Junior ISA, and where to get help if something goes wrong.

What a Junior SIPP is: a self-invested pension for a child

A Junior SIPP is a self-invested personal pension for a child¹. Like any personal pension, it is a way of saving for retirement that sits outside the State Pension and outside any workplace scheme. A SIPP is a type of defined contribution pension: money paid in is invested, and the pot that results depends on how much went in and how the investments performed³. When the child eventually retires, they use that pot to provide an income, in the same way as with any other defined contribution pension.

The "self-invested" part is what separates a SIPP from other children's pensions. With a SIPP, you choose your own investments⁸, and SIPPs generally allow you to hold multiple investments and products, so you can manage the pension fund yourself⁹. Providers describe the Junior SIPP as a pension for people happy to make their own investment decisions¹⁰. That suits some families and not others: a parent comfortable choosing funds can tailor the account, while a family that wants a simple, low-maintenance option may prefer a stakeholder pension for children, which comes with a limited choice of investments¹¹.

The account must be opened by a parent or legal guardian, who also has the responsibility of managing it while the child is under 18⁴. The money in it belongs to the child, not the adult: this is not a savings account the family can dip into. Anyone can pay in, from grandparents to aunties, uncles, godparents and friends⁴, which is why Junior SIPPs are often used by extended families who want to put money aside for a child's far-off retirement rather than for a house deposit or university costs at 18.

The sums can build up over a childhood. One provider's illustration suggests that over 18 years, as much as £64,800 could be paid into a child's Junior SIPP⁶. That figure is a provider's own example rather than a typical outcome, and it depends entirely on how much a family pays in and how the investments perform. But it shows the scale of what regular contributions across a childhood can add up to, before any investment growth is counted.

Because a Junior SIPP is a pension, payments into it get the same tax treatment as adult pension contributions, covered in detail on pension tax relief. The rules on how much can be paid in each year are the pension annual allowance rules, which apply to the child, not to the adults paying in¹².

Choosing investments inside a Junior SIPP

Once the account is open, the parent or guardian chooses what the money is invested in, and this is where a Junior SIPP differs most from the simpler alternatives. Hargreaves Lansdown states that its Junior SIPP offers a wider range of investment choice than stakeholder pensions for children¹⁰, and the same comparison appears in independent guidance: stakeholder pensions for children come with a limited choice of investments in which to place your savings¹¹.

In practice, the investments available are the ones the platform offers to SIPP savers generally. Many investment platforms offer the ability to hold investments inside an ISA, a SIPP or a Junior ISA¹³, so a family already using a platform for its own savings may find the same funds, shares and investment trusts available inside the child's pension. The choice ranges from ready-made fund ranges, where a single fund spreads the money across many investments, to individual shares and funds picked one by one.

The choice matters because the money stays invested for the very long term, and the family is responsible for the decisions throughout. A Junior SIPP such as the HL Junior SIPP offers a wider range of investment choice than stakeholder pensions for children, which come with a limited choice of investments in which to place your savings⁶. Some questions worth settling before choosing:

• Who will actually pick the investments? The parent or guardian manages the account until the child is 18⁴, so the adult opening it needs to be comfortable with the choices, or happy to use a simple ready-made option.
• How much choice is wanted? A wider range suits families who want to tailor the portfolio; a limited range can be simpler and cheaper¹⁰.
• What happens at 18? The child takes over every future investment decision¹, so the investments should be ones an 18-year-old can understand and manage.

There is no requirement to take financial advice to open or run a Junior SIPP, but nothing prevents a family getting it either. Free guidance on pensions generally is available from MoneyHelper², and the page on personal pension and SIPP providers explains how platforms and their charging structures work.

The money is locked away until at least 57

This is the single most important feature of a Junior SIPP, and it deserves to be stated firmly: the money cannot normally be accessed until the child reaches the normal minimum pension age. That age is currently 55, and it is set to rise to 57 in 2028¹. MoneyHelper's guidance on personal pensions makes the same point for all private pensions: the money is locked away until you are at least 55, or 57 after April 2028².

Independent guidance repeats the figure. The earliest you can access money saved in a private pension is 55, rising to 57 in 2028¹⁴, and the same age applies to SIPPs specifically¹⁶. For a Junior SIPP, the provider Bestinvest describes the position bluntly: Junior SIPP investments are locked away until the child turns 57, noting the age is currently 55 but rising to 57 in 2028¹.

What this means in practice is that a Junior SIPP is money the child cannot use for any of the things young adults typically need: driving lessons, a deposit, education or a wedding. A family saving for those goals needs a different home for that money, such as a Junior ISA or a children's savings account. A Junior SIPP is specifically for retirement, and the long lock is the price paid for the pension tax treatment.

The lock is not absolute in every circumstance. The normal minimum pension age is a minimum for normal access; there are separate rules allowing pensions to be taken early in cases of serious ill health, covered on taking your pension early because of ill health. But no family should open a Junior SIPP expecting the money back before retirement, and any adult paying in should be clear that they will never see the money again: it belongs to the child.

The minimum pension access age rises to 57 in April 2028

The access age is not fixed for good. The normal minimum pension age is currently 55, and it rises to 57 in April 2028¹⁷. One provider states the change takes effect from 6 April 2028⁷, and the same date is given in guidance on private pensions: the earliest access age is 55, rising to 57 in 2028¹⁴.

For an adult nearing retirement this is a near-term change with a specific date. For a child it works differently. A child who is five years old when the account is opened will not reach the minimum pension age for half a century, and several providers note that the age is likely to rise further over that period¹⁰. The access age that will actually apply to today's children is the one in force when they reach it, not the one in force today.

This uncertainty cuts both ways. The long lock gives the investments decades to grow, which is the whole point of a pension for a child. But it also means a family cannot know precisely when the child will be able to draw on the money, or what the rules on taking it will be by then. The rules on how pension money can be taken, covered on your options for taking money from a pension, have themselves changed repeatedly in living memory.

The current position, in summary:

Who runs the account until the child is 18

A Junior SIPP needs to be opened by a parent or legal guardian, who also has the responsibility of managing the account until the child turns 18⁴. Bestinvest states the same rule from the ownership side: if the child is aged under 18, the SIPP must be held in the name of a parent or guardian, but ownership of the SIPP will be switched to the child when they turn 18¹². Fidelity puts it most simply: control passes when the child reaches 18¹⁸.

So there are two things to keep separate: the name on the account and the ownership of the money. The parent or guardian is the account holder in the administrative sense, chooses the investments and deals with the provider. But the money belongs to the child throughout, and the adult running it is doing so on the child's behalf. An adult who pays into a Junior SIPP is making a gift to the child, not setting aside their own money.

The position differs from a Junior ISA in one respect worth noting. With a Junior ISA, a parent or guardian manages the account while the child is under 16, and once the child reaches 16 they can choose to manage their own account¹⁹. A Junior SIPP has no equivalent early handover: the parent or guardian manages it right up to the child's 18th birthday, when control passes in full⁴.

Where family circumstances change, the rules provide for continuity. Official guidance covers how someone granted formal parental responsibility, such as a step-parent or adoptive parent, can take over management of a child's account²¹. And where the adults around a child are entitled to benefits or credits of their own, the account itself does not affect those: the child's money is the child's.

What happens when the child turns 18

The 18th birthday is the turning point for a Junior SIPP. On the child's 18th birthday the account will effectively become a regular SIPP⁴. Fidelity describes the same transition: at age 18 the money passes to the child, but they cannot normally access the pension until they reach 55, or 57 from 2028⁵.

From that point the child is the account holder in every sense. They take control of their SIPP and make all future investment decisions¹. They can change the investments, change the provider, consolidate the pot with other pensions later in life, and continue paying in themselves. The parent or guardian who ran the account until then has no further say, and no ability to get the money back.

For a family, this raises a practical point that is worth thinking about before the birthday arrives. An 18-year-old inherits not just the money but the responsibility for it: the investments, the charges, the decisions about what to hold. Some families use the years before 18 to talk the child through the account so the handover is not a surprise. MoneyHelper notes that most personal pensions can be started from age 18, or opened on behalf of someone younger², so the child can also open and pay into pensions of their own once adult.

The child cannot withdraw at 18, and that is worth repeating because it is the most common misunderstanding. Taking control is not the same as taking the money. The pot remains locked until the normal minimum pension age, currently 55 and rising to 57 from 6 April 2028⁵.

Grandparents and others can pay in

One of the features that draws families to Junior SIPPs is that anyone can contribute: providers state that anyone from grandparents to aunties, uncles, godparents and friends can pay in⁴. The account still has to be opened and managed by a parent or legal guardian, but once it exists, the wider family can use it to build up the child's retirement pot, whether through regular contributions or one-off gifts.

Independent guidance for grandparents looking at pensions for grandchildren describes the same landscape: stakeholder pensions for children can be opened for a grandchild, though they come with a limited choice of investments¹¹. A Junior SIPP widens that choice¹⁰. Wealth managers also publish guidance on saving for grandchildren that covers pensions alongside other options²², reflecting how commonly grandparents are the driving force behind these accounts.

Grandparents who care for young children may also be able to protect their own State Pension at the same time. Grandparents and other family members aged over 16 but under State Pension age who provide care for a child aged under 12 can receive Class 3 Specified Adult National Insurance credits²³. These credits fill gaps in a National Insurance record, which is what the State Pension is built on, and they are separate from anything paid into the child's pension. The details are on do carers get State Pension credits?.

There is a related rule on the child's own record. A young person who claims certain benefits themselves can build National Insurance credits that count towards their State Pension if they are over 16²⁴. These credits are about the child's State Pension entitlement, not their Junior SIPP, but they are part of the same picture of building a child's long-term financial position.

Moving a Junior SIPP to another provider

A Junior SIPP is not tied to the provider it starts with. The Financial Ombudsman Service describes a pension transfer as moving money from one personal pension to another, or from a personal or workplace pension to a SIPP²⁵. The same mechanics apply to a child's pension: the pot can be moved to a different provider, for example if the family wants a wider investment range, lower charges, or to bring the child's pension alongside the family's other accounts.

Hargreaves Lansdown publishes guidance on transferring a child's pension, which describes the Junior SIPP as a pension for people happy to make their own investment decisions and notes that the pension is not usually accessible until age 55, rising to 57 from 2028 and likely to rise further¹⁰. Before moving any pension, the things to check are the same as for an adult transfer:

• Exit fees: whether the current provider charges for leaving, and how much.
• Investments: whether the holdings can be moved as they are, or would have to be sold and repurchased.
• The receiving provider: what it offers, and what it charges, covered on transferring pensions and investments to another provider.
• Who must agree: while the child is under 18, the parent or guardian arranges the transfer; after 18, the child decides⁴.

The experience of transfers going wrong is well documented by the ombudsman. One published case study concerns a consumer who was unhappy after being recommended to transfer her existing pension into a new SIPP²⁶, and the ombudsman's guidance on transfers from personal pension arrangements sets out when it can help with transfer complaints²⁵. The general page on complaining about a pension provider covers the process.

A related point for families with older children: many children born in the 2000s have Child Trust Funds, and large numbers of them were reported unclaimed²⁷. A child with a maturing Child Trust Fund has options at 18: leave the money with the current provider, transfer to a different provider, or move it into a Junior ISA, with no moving back to a Child Trust Fund later²⁷. That is a decision about a different product, but it often arrives at the same time as questions about a Junior SIPP.

Junior SIPP or Junior ISA: how they differ

Both a Junior SIPP and a Junior ISA are long-term accounts for a child's money, and both are held with investment platforms or savings providers. Beyond that they behave very differently, and the difference turns on two questions: when the child gets the money, and how it is taxed.

A Junior ISA is a tax-advantaged savings product available to children²⁸, described by the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland as a long-term tax-free savings account that can be opened by a parent or legal guardian to invest in a child's future²⁹. The Junior cash ISA is for children under 18³⁰, and NS&I describes its Junior ISA as a tax-free way to save for children up to the age of 18³¹. Children under 16 can hold NS&I's Junior ISA, Premium Bonds and its Investment Account³².

The access rules are the opposite of a pension's. You cannot take money out of a Junior ISA until the child turns 18, and when your child turns 18 they can take out any money in their Junior ISAs²⁰. Junior ISAs also automatically turn into an adult ISA when the child turns 18²⁰. So a Junior ISA is money for the child's young adult life; a Junior SIPP is money for their retirement.

The two are not mutually exclusive. Providers offer both: interactive investor offers a Junior SIPP and a Junior ISA for young investors and savers under 18³⁴, and Bestinvest notes that Junior ISAs exist for children as well but have different rules³⁵. A family can hold both, using the Junior ISA for goals at 18 and beyond, and the Junior SIPP for retirement. The comparison page on SIPP or standard personal plan covers the adult equivalents of the same choice.

Complaints, protection and free help

Problems with a Junior SIPP usually fall into one of three categories: the investments performed badly, the transfer went wrong, or the account was sold or run in a way that was not suitable. The first is not something anyone can complain about: investments can fall as well as rise, and a SIPP is a self-invested product where the account holder chose the investments⁸. The second and third are.

The Financial Ombudsman Service can consider complaints about pension transfers from personal pension arrangements²⁵, and its published case studies include a consumer who was unhappy after being recommended to transfer her existing pension into a new SIPP²⁶. If a family thinks a Junior SIPP, or a transfer involving one, was mis-sold, Which? sets out the steps for a consumer who thinks they have been mis-sold a financial product³⁶. The route is to complain to the provider first, then to the ombudsman if the complaint is not resolved, as covered on the Pensions Ombudsman and complaining about a pension.

Pension scams are a live risk around any transfer, and the warning signs are documented: independent guidance lists the warning signs of a pension scam, including being contacted out of the blue about a transfer¹⁶. Age UK publishes similar guidance on investment scams³⁷. A Junior SIPP is less exposed than an adult pot, because the child cannot move the money until the minimum pension age, but the adult managing the account can still be targeted with unsuitable investments or fake platforms. The page on pension scams covers the warning signs and where to report them.

Free, impartial help is available at every stage. MoneyHelper, the government-backed service, provides free guidance on personal pensions², and its guidance is independent of any provider. For complaints, the Financial Ombudsman Service is free to use²⁵. Nothing in opening or running a Junior SIPP requires paid financial advice, though families with complex tax positions may choose to take it.

Who offers Junior SIPPs in the UK

Junior SIPPs are offered by a small number of investment platforms, mostly the same firms that provide adult SIPPs. The accounts differ mainly in the investment range, the charging structure and how the account is run, and the page on personal pension and SIPP providers explains how to compare them.

• Bestinvest offers a Junior SIPP and publishes guidance on how the SIPP allowance works¹.
• Hargreaves Lansdown offers an HL Junior SIPP, which it describes as offering a wider range of investment choice than stakeholder pensions for children, with guidance on transferring a child's pension¹⁰.
• interactive investor offers a Junior SIPP that can be opened for any child under 18, alongside a Junior ISA, and publishes a direct comparison of the two⁴.
• Fidelity publishes guidance on finding an account for a child and on opening accounts, stating that control passes when the child reaches 18⁵.
• Nucleus Financial states that it offers a Junior SIPP and Junior ISA for young investors and savers under 18³⁴.
• Chip publishes guidance on private pensions, including the minimum access age for children's pensions⁷.
• PensionBee publishes reference material on what a private pension is and what a SIPP is, including the access age of 55, rising to 57 from 2028⁸.
• Arbuthnot Latham publishes wealth planning guidance on saving for grandchildren, which covers pensions among the options²².

This list describes the firms that publish Junior SIPP material; it is not exhaustive, and inclusion is not a recommendation. Before opening an account with any provider, the things to compare are the investment range, the charges for holding the account and for each investment, and what happens to the account when the child turns 18. The directory of pension and investment providers lists firms across the market.