How to switch your sipp.
Someone in a higher-fee adviser-led pension (firms like SJP, Quilter, True Potential) or in a percentage-fee execution-only platform where the balance has grown into the expensive end of the tier (HL above ~£100k is the canonical example). What follows is illustrative — the sequence a typical switch goes through, and the parts the receiving provider handles for you.
The typical sequence.
- 01
Get a current valuation and the list of fund holdings from the existing pension.
- 02
Open a new SIPPSelf-Invested Personal PensionA pension where you pick the investments yourself. Cheaper than legacy adviser-led pensions, but you choose the funds. at a lower-fee platform.
- 03
Submit an in-specie transferIn-specie transferMoving investments between providers without selling them. Your funds and shares come across as-is, so you stay invested the whole time. Standard mechanic for ISA and SIPP transfers. where possible. Adviser-led pensions usually require a cash transfer instead (sell on the way out, buy on the way in).
- 04
Time out of market on a cash transfer is typically 2–6 weeks — a trade-off most people weigh against the ongoing fee dragFee dragHow much investment growth gets eaten by ongoing fees. A 1.5% fee can reduce a 30-year pot by ~30% — not because the fee compounds, but because every year you have less invested to grow..
Gotchas.
- !Defined BenefitDefined Benefit pensionA pension that pays a contractual income for life, based on your salary and years of service. Usually called a 'final salary' or 'career average' pension. Transferring out forfeits the safeguarded benefit — FCA rules require regulated advice for any DB transfer with safeguarded benefits worth £30,000 or more (FCA COBS 19.1). (final salary) schemes — including any with safeguarded benefitsSafeguarded benefitsPension features the regulator considers valuable enough to protect: guaranteed annuity rates (GARs), guaranteed minimum pensions (GMPs), and any defined-benefit element. Transfers worth £30k+ require regulated advice. like Guaranteed Annuity RatesGuaranteed Annuity RateA pre-promised annuity rate written into older personal pensions, often well above today's market rates. Counts as a safeguarded benefit — transferring out forfeits it. or Guaranteed Minimum PensionsGuaranteed Minimum PensionA guaranteed pension benefit accrued in contracted-out workplace schemes between 1978 and 1997. Counts as a safeguarded benefit. — require regulated advice for any transfer with safeguarded benefits worth £30k+. Feefee doesn’t model these and doesn’t cover the transfer decision.
- !Some advised pensions carry exit penalties. The small print on the existing scheme is the canonical source.
- !If an employer still pays into the old scheme, transferring only the legacy parts and leaving the active one is the usual pattern.
Who Feefee compares.
- Trading 212Free
Free S&S ISA — no platform, dealing or custody fee. Pays 3.8% on uninvested GBP cash (via QMMF — Qualifying Money Market Fund, NOT FSCS-protected as cash). Cash ISA standard 3.60% AER (BoE base − 0.15%); 12-month new-customer promo at 4.51% drops to standard after. SIPP now generally available and free of platform, custody and dealing fees (Trading 212 operates the pension itself since its Feb 2026 FCA authorisation — no operator/trustee fee); 0.15% FX applies on non-GBP trades. "Free" is funded by four less-visible levers: (1) 0.15% FX fee + an undisclosed FX spread on every non-GBP trade, (2) securities-lending revenue (~50/50 split with you, opt-out in settings), (3) net interest margin on uninvested QMMF cash (you get the QMMF yield; Trading 212 keeps the spread between underlying and what's passed on), and (4) CFD bid/ask spreads + overnight financing on the CFD side of the business — which is where most of Trading 212's £277m+ 2025 revenue actually came from. UK best-execution rules block a discretionary mark-up on Invest/ISA share trades, but execution quality is a real, hard-to-audit lever. Trading 212 publicly states no PFOF.
- Vanguard UK0.15% / year (min £48) (capped £375)
0.15% per year, minimum £48/yr (£4/month floor under ~£32k balance), capped at £375/year above ~£250k. Vanguard funds only. Pays ~3.10% on uninvested cash via their Sterling Short-Term MMF (down from ~4% — followed BoE cuts).
- Interactive Investor · Core£5.99 / month
II's entry plan (relaunched Feb 2026) — £5.99/month for one ISA OR SIPP under £100k balance, one free trade per month. Best II tier for smaller pots or single-wrapper users.
- Interactive Investor · Plus£14.99 / month
Standard II plan (relaunched Feb 2026) — £14.99/month covers ISA + SIPP + trading account, one free trade per month. Wins on cost above ~£100k total.
- Interactive Investor · Premium£39.99 / month
II Premium (Feb 2026) — £39.99/month, includes Friends & Family (up to 5 family members on one fee). Wins on cost at very large balances or where family-pooling matters.
- AJ Bell Dodl0.15% / year (min £12)
0.15% on all balances, £1/month minimum, no cap. App-first, simplified fund range.
- AJ Bell0.25% → 0.00% (3-tier)
Full-fat AJ Bell. SIPP and ISA funds: 0.25% to £250k, 0.10% £250k–£500k, 0% above £500k. SHARE accounts capped separately: £3.50/month ISA, £10/month SIPP — flat-equivalent above ~£17k–£48k in shares, so the headline 0.25% materially overstates cost for share-heavy portfolios. Dealing fees: £1.50 funds, £5.00 shares (£3.50 frequent-trader). More fund choice than Dodl.
- Hargreaves Lansdown0.35% → 0.00% (4-tier)
Premium platform with research + customer service. Tiered platform fee (cut 1 March 2026): 0.35% to £250k → 0.25% to £1m → 0.10% to £2m → 0% above. Funds only — stocks have separate dealing fees (never more than £6.95 per trade). LISA: 0.25% a year on funds up to £1m (0.10% £1m–£2m, 0% above); LISA shares charged 0.25% capped at £3.75/month. Uninvested cash rates tiered since 10 Jun 2026 — entry tiers: 1.31% ISA, 2.02% SIPP, 1.41% LISA, 1.06% Fund & Share; larger balances earn more (up to 2.63% on SIPP, 2.17% on ISA).
- Fidelity Personal Investing0.35% → 0.00% (3-tier)
Mid-fee platform, decent fund range. 0.35% on funds tier 1, falls to 0.20% £250k–£1m, 0% above £1m. Shares/ETFs capped separately at £90/year, with a £90 minimum service fee on share-heavy accounts (so the fee can exceed funds-equivalent for small share holdings). Stock/ETF dealing £7.50/trade. SIPP drawdown setup £25 + VAT. Junior wrappers free.
- InvestEngineFree
Free DIY ISA AND DIY SIPP — zero platform fee since Dec 2025. Managed portfolios 0.25%. ETF-focused.
- Moneybox0.45% → 0.15% (2-tier)
App-first, friendly UX. ISA/LISA 0.45% + £1/month (waived with £5k+ in Cash ISA/Simple Saver; first 3 months of the subscription free for new customers). SIPP: Moneybox Funds 0.15%/year capped at £150/yr; other funds 0.45% to £100k, 0.15% above, no subscription. Simple Saver 2.40% AER underlying (3.40% with the conditional reward). Expensive on small invested pots; cheaper on larger SIPPs.
- St. James's Place1.67% / year
Adviser-led firm. Restructured fees August 2025 for new clients: roughly 1.6–1.7% ongoing total — 0.8% advice + 0.27–0.35% product + ~0.52% fund cost. Exit fees abolished on new investments. Pre-Aug-2025 clients remain on legacy structure (~1.9% with 6-year exit charges).
- True Potential1.64% / year
Adviser-led firm. 1.64% all-in per True Potential's own £120k worked example (£1,968/year): 0.40% platform + 0.74% typical fund + 0.50% ongoing advice. Bundled adviser remuneration tied to placement on the True Potential platform. Compare to flat-fee DIY (HL, II Plus, AJ Bell) before signing.
- Quilter / Openwork1.40% / year
Quilter / Openwork IFA platform. 1.40% headline is platform + advice; underlying fund cost adds 0.30–1.00% depending on the recommended portfolio — true all-in typically 1.7–2.4%. Quilter is the platform; Openwork is the adviser network — same group, technically separate entities. Bundled adviser remuneration similar to SJP / True Potential pattern.
- Scottish Widows0.85% / year
Common workplace-pension provider; Lloyds Banking Group. Headline is a typical retail/default-fund AMC. YOUR employer's scheme may have a negotiated rate as low as 0.30–0.45% — check your scheme booklet, not this number. UK auto-enrolment defaults are capped at 0.75% by statute.
- Aviva0.80% / year
Common workplace-pension provider, also offers a retail SIPP. Headline is a typical retail/default-fund AMC. YOUR employer's scheme may have a negotiated rate as low as 0.30–0.45% — check your scheme booklet, not this number. UK auto-enrolment defaults are capped at 0.75% by statute.
- Standard Life0.90% / year
Phoenix Group; common with bigger employers. Headline is a typical retail/default-fund AMC. YOUR employer's scheme may have a negotiated rate as low as 0.30–0.45% — large-employer schemes often hit the lower end of this band. UK auto-enrolment defaults are capped at 0.75% by statute.
- Royal London0.80% / year
Mutual; competitive workplace pension fees with profit-share rebate.
- PensionBee0.50% / year
Pension consolidator — pulls old workplace pots into one SIPP-style account. Tracker (default cheap) 0.50% AMC under £100k; other plans 0.70–0.95%. Fee halved on portion above £100k. Tailored / Fossil Fuel Free / Impact plans discontinued.
- Other / not listed—
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