The People's Pension

The People's Pension is a workplace pension used by over 100,000 employers, with more than seven million members¹. It is a master trust, which means it is a large scheme that many unrelated employers can use instead of running their own pension¹. If your employer has automatically enrolled you, this is often the scheme you land in, and your money goes into the balanced investment profile unless you ask for it to be moved¹.

It is a defined contribution scheme, so what you get at retirement depends on how much has been paid in, how the investments have performed, and how you decide to take the money². The fund can go up or down². The People's Pension offers three investment profiles, balanced, cautious and adventurous, plus eight funds if you want to make your own decisions¹.

Charges are taken from the fund rather than billed to you. The People's Pension takes a fixed charge and a rebate for larger savings, and the exact figures that apply to your account are on its own website¹. How that structure works, and why it matters more for some pots than others, is explained below.

What The People's Pension is and who it is for

The People's Pension is a master trust, a type of workplace pension that pools many employers into one scheme. Master trusts now dominate the defined contribution market as smaller schemes continue to exit it, according to The Pensions Regulator, which regulates work-based pension schemes in the UK⁶. For an employer, joining a master trust avoids the cost and administration of running its own scheme. For a member, it means the scheme is run by a trustee board rather than by the employer. The scheme itself is a trust-based defined contribution occupational pension scheme⁷.

It is a defined contribution scheme, so there is no promise about the size of your pot at retirement. All personal pensions are defined contribution schemes³. The money you pay in is invested by the provider, and the value of those investments can rise or fall².

You do not choose to join in the way you would choose a personal pension. Your employer chooses the scheme and enrols you into it, and you can opt out if you want to⁸. Some employers offer personal pensions as workplace pensions, but a master trust like this one is a workplace scheme rather than a personal pension you arrange yourself².

If you are self-employed, or not working but able to save, or you simply want to save more for retirement, a personal pension may be more suitable, and those are arranged by you rather than by an employer⁹. The People's Pension is aimed at the workplace side: employees whose employer has signed up to it. For the wider picture of how workplace and personal pensions compare, see Pensions: a complete guide.

How contributions and tax relief work

Contributions come out of your pay, and the government adds tax relief. The way that happens depends on how your employer's payroll is set up. Under a net pay arrangement, your employer takes your pension contribution and the government's contribution as tax relief from your pay before deducting tax, and you pay tax on what is left¹⁰. Under relief at source, the contribution is taken after tax and the provider claims the tax relief back and adds it to your pot.

Either way, the government encourages you to save for your retirement by giving you tax relief on pension contributions, which reduces your tax bill or increases your pension fund¹¹. When people and their employers pay into a pension, the contributions are exempt from taxation, and both savers and employers receive tax relief⁷.

You can save as much as you want in a personal pension, and you will get tax relief on the amount you put in up to the annual allowance¹². For stakeholder pensions, the rule is tax relief on contributions of up to 100 per cent of your earnings each year, depending on the annual allowance¹³. You usually cannot open or pay into a personal pension after you reach age 75, unless you are transferring across a pension³.

You can make regular or individual lump sum payments to a pension provider, and other people and family members can pay a personal pension on your behalf². That means a partner or relative can add to your pot, which can be useful if you have gaps in your working history.

Investment profiles: balanced, cautious or adventurous

Your money is automatically placed into the balanced profile unless you request for it to be moved¹. The People's Pension offers three investment profiles, balanced, cautious and adventurous¹. The difference between them is how much risk the investments take on, and therefore how much the value can move up and down.

The scheme also applies lifestyling. It automatically starts switching from higher-risk investments into lower-risk investments from 15 years before your chosen retirement date¹. That means the pot is gradually moved into steadier holdings as you approach the point where you will want to use it, so a sudden fall in markets shortly before retirement has less effect.

If you want to make your own investment decisions, you can choose from eight investment funds instead¹. Self-selecting means you take on the decisions the lifestyling would otherwise make for you, including how and when to reduce risk as retirement approaches.

Which profile suits you is a matter of your circumstances and how much you can afford the pot to fall in value. A cautious profile reduces the chance of sharp falls but also tends to reduce long-term growth. An adventurous profile does the opposite. The scheme's own documents set out the objectives of each profile, and the wider principles are covered in Investing: a complete guide.

How the charges work, and the savings reward

Pension providers may charge you for starting and running your pension, and usually they take a percentage from your pension fund⁹. The People's Pension works differently from a straightforward percentage-only scheme. The exact figures that apply to your account, and how they are deducted, are set out on The People's Pension's own website.

The fixed charge is a flat amount, so it takes a larger share of a small pot than of a large one. Together they mean the effective cost of the scheme changes as your pot changes size.

Charges are taken from the fund rather than invoiced to you, so you will not see a separate bill. They show up as a reduction in the value of the pot rather than as a payment out of your bank account.

Because charges reduce the pot, and the pot is what produces your retirement income, they matter over a working lifetime. A small percentage difference compounds over decades. The scheme's own charge documents are the place to check the current figures, and the general principles of how pension charges are structured are covered in Pensions: a complete guide.

Transferring other pensions in

You can transfer your UK pension pot to another registered UK pension scheme¹⁶. You can usually transfer or consolidate your pensions at any point, unless the scheme rules list restrictions⁴. In some cases it is also possible to transfer to a new pension provider after you have started to draw retirement benefits¹⁶.

The process usually runs in a set order:

1. Check your current scheme allows transfers out.
2. Make sure you will not lose any benefits.
3. Decide which scheme to transfer into.
4. Check whether you need to pay for financial advice.
5. Ask your current provider for a transfer value.
6. Ask the new scheme to start the transfer⁴.

A transfer often takes between two and six weeks, but your provider has up to six months to action your request⁴. The time depends on how quickly the old scheme responds and whether advice is needed. If money is being paid into your pension, it can take up to three months for it to arrive¹⁵.

If you have lost track of an old pension, the Pension Tracing Service can find the contact details¹⁷. For the wider picture, see Pensions: a complete guide.

Managing your pension online

The People's Pension runs an online account where you can see your pot, check contributions and manage your details. You register using your customer number, which appears on the letters and statements the scheme sends you. If you have lost the paperwork, the Pension Tracing Service can help you find the contact details of a pension you have lost touch with¹⁷.

Pensions dashboards are coming. A pensions dashboard is an online tool where people can access their pension information, and the legislation describes them as online services which will allow people to access their pension information in a clear and simple form¹⁸. Once available, they will let you see pots from different schemes in one place rather than logging into each separately.

Your provider will usually send you a statement each year showing how much is in your pension, and you will receive a yearly forecast from your pension service provider²⁰. You can also ask your scheme for an estimate of how much you will get when you take your pension²⁰.

Keep your address, name and bank details up to date. Your National Insurance number is used to make sure your contributions and tax are recorded against your name only, so it needs to be correct²¹. If you change your name or your National Insurance number, contact the scheme directly and ask it to update your record.

Taking your money at retirement

The earliest you can take a personal pension is usually 55, depending on your arrangements with the pension provider or pension trust⁹. The earliest you can take your pension is usually age 55, rising to 57 from April 2028, unless you need to retire early because of poor health³. You cannot usually take money from your pension scheme until you are at least 55, unless you are seriously ill²².

How much you get depends on how much has been paid in, how the fund's investments have performed, and how you decide to take your money². If you have a private pension, you may have to decide how you want to receive your money¹⁸. The options typically include leaving it invested, taking lump sums, buying an annuity, or moving into drawdown, and each has different tax and income consequences.

You can claim while working, as long as you have reached the age agreed with your pension provider¹⁸. When you get money from a pension you pay tax on any income above your tax-free Personal Allowance¹¹. People pay tax on payments from pensions like other income, and people can access up to 25% of their pension savings tax-free⁷.

If you are unsure, free guidance is available. Pension Wise is delivered by the Money and Pensions Service on its MoneyHelper website²³. The Money and Pensions Service also offers free advice if you are unsure whether a personal pension is right for you⁹.

Choosing who receives your pension when you die

Your pension provider will ask you to complete an expression of wish form, which tells them who you would like to receive your pension if you die³. It is worth keeping it updated after a change in circumstances such as marriage, divorce or a birth.

The form is not binding in the way a will is, but it is the main evidence the scheme has of your wishes, and trustees normally follow it. If your circumstances change, tell the scheme. The Pensions Ombudsman investigates and resolves complaints and disputes about occupational and personal pension schemes, and death benefit decisions are one of the areas it looks at²⁴.

If someone has died, there is a service for reporting a death without having to tell every government department separately¹⁷. For pensions, the scheme itself is the first point of contact, and it will explain what it needs.

Service, complaints and how your savings are protected

If something goes wrong, the route depends on what it is. You can complain to MoneyHelper or the Pensions Ombudsman about how your workplace pension is managed²⁵. The Pensions Ombudsman can look at complaints about how personal and occupational pension schemes are run⁷. It can look at complaints about the administration of personal and occupational pension schemes²⁶. Your complaint may be upheld, partly upheld or not upheld²⁷.

The Financial Ombudsman Service handles complaints about personal pensions, and if your complaint is about your State Pension, the Pension Service handles those instead²⁸. Complaint volumes give a sense of scale: in the first quarter of 2026/27, 42% of personal pension complaints were upheld³⁰.

The People's Pension has its own complaints procedure, and there are two types of complaint, each for a different type of concern you may have³¹. The Pensions Ombudsman can look at complaints about how personal and occupational pension schemes are run, and investigates and resolves complaints and disputes about occupational and personal pension schemes²⁵.

On protection, the position depends on the type of scheme. The Pension Protection Fund protects members of defined benefit schemes, and it covers 8.6 million people across the United Kingdom who are members of defined benefit pension schemes, often known as final salary schemes⁵. It is a statutory fund to protect members of DB schemes if the scheme's sponsor becomes insolvent²⁶. The People's Pension is a defined contribution scheme, so the Pension Protection Fund does not apply to it.

For defined contribution schemes, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme publishes a guide to pension protection, and it suggests asking your provider a set of questions, including whether the FSCS protects your pension, how much of your pot is protected, and what other protections are available³³. The level of protection depends on the type of product and the firm, so it is worth checking with the scheme directly.