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A Higher-Performing, Fee-Free Alternative to The People’s Pension

Penfold and The People’s Pension are both established workplace pension providers, but Penfold stands out with significantly higher fund performance, advanced employee tools, and no hidden fees.

Penfold saves time and simplifies workplace pensions for businesses with free setup, dedicated support, and streamlined compliance tools while helping employees save for a comfortable later life.

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A mobile interface for Penfold's pension management app and a desktop interface for Penfold's pension processing platform. The mobile screen shows "Rose's Dashboard" with a total pot value of £12,994.54, options to transfer an old pension, and add money. There's also a prompt to combine an old pension and a forecast feature. The desktop interface welcomes back "Elevate Accounting Group" and prompts to upload files. Two dashed boxes offer to "Add employees only" or "Add pension payroll files" with drag and drop functionality. There are also options to download templates for enrolment and contributions, and a section for the last upload.

Why Choose Penfold Over The People’s Pension?

Penfold offers businesses and employees a superior workplace pension experience:

Designed for Modern Businesses

Penfold’s tech-driven platform is built to simplify pension management for businesses. From seamless compliance tracking to reduced admin time and automated payroll processing, Penfold helps businesses work smarter. While The People’s Pension is a reliable option, its one-size-fits-all approach lacks the customisation and business-focused features Penfold offers.

No Business Fees

With £0 setup or ongoing business fees, Penfold ensures affordability for businesses of all sizes, freeing up resources for growth.

Higher Customer Ratings

Both Penfold and The People’s Pension hold 5-star Defaqto ratings, but Penfold’s 4.5 Trustpilot score reflects greater customer satisfaction compared to The People’s Pension’s 4.0 rating. This highlights our commitment to delivering exceptional service.

A comparison chart between Penfold and People’s Pension. Both have a 5-star Defaqto rating, but Penfold has a 4.5-star Trustpilot rating compared to People’s Pension’s 4.0 stars. Penfold offers additional features like a dedicated account manager, managed onboarding, in-person or online launch events, compliance support, and pension benchmarking, which People’s Pension does not provide. Both include salary sacrifice support, payroll integrations, and payroll processing support. Penfold has no business fees, while People’s Pension charges a £500 setup fee.

Stronger Fund Performance for Employees

Strong fund performance is key to building a secure financial future. Over the past five years, Penfold’s default fund, managed by BlackRock, has delivered annualised returns of 7.6% (gross) and 6.8% (net), outperforming The People’s Pension returns of 5.2% (gross) and 4.8% (net).

Fund performance plays a vital role in securing employees’ financial futures. Penfold’s higher gross and net returns allow employees’ savings to grow faster, providing greater long-term security.

This information should not be regarded as financial advice and past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

A comparison chart of default fund performance between Penfold and People’s Pension over 5 years to 30 September 2024. Penfold’s gross returns are 7.6%, significantly higher than People’s Pension’s 5.2%. Penfold’s net returns are 6.8%, also outperforming People’s Pension’s 4.8%. The chart uses colored bars to visually represent the differences, highlighting Penfold’s superior performance.

Returns are based on data collected by investment advisors DWA from a variety of sources including individual providers and data published on Morningstar. These are annualised returns are based on data in the 5 years to 30 September 2024. Returns for Penfold are based on a customer being invested in our default Standard Lifetime plan. Competitor returns are based on customers invested in their default plans.DWA have estimated the Gross Returns based on available information for a member with a typical pot size of £10,000 and an average salary of £30,000. DWA have estimated the Net Returns net of all costs and charges based on available information for a member with a typical pot size of £10,000 and an average salary of £30,000.

Actual returns may vary depending on a variety of factors including specific costs negotiated by a member's employer, actual pot size and actual salary. Where possible we have used actual return series available, though in assumptions have been made based on the underlying funds because of poor data availability and this may also result in some variance. The effect of charges have been applied to the return series on a monthly basis via a subtraction/addition of the proportionate amount, this may create small discrepancies with actual experience depending on charging structure. DWA are happy to correct any discrepancies should evidence be provided.

A More Engaging Pension for Employees

Penfold’s platform is designed to engage and empower employees, ensuring they feel in control of their financial futures:

Feature-Rich App

Unlike The People’s Pension, Penfold provides a feature-rich app that allows employees to track their savings, set goals, and manage their investments anytime, anywhere.

Comprehensive Financial Wellbeing Tools

Penfold offers tools like savings nudges, retirement income forecasts, and education programs to boost employees’ financial confidence. These features are missing from The People’s Pension, which offers a more basic experience.

No Hidden Employee Fees

Penfold charges a straightforward 0.75% annual management fee (lower for pots over £100k), with no extra charges. The People’s Pension has a lower base fee of 0.50% but adds a £4.50 annual admin charge, which can accumulate over time.

A comparison chart between Penfold and People’s Pension. Penfold offers 10 investment funds, an app, and additional features like finding and combining pensions, savings goals, savings nudges, shareholder voting, financial wellbeing, and education programs, which People’s Pension lacks. Both provide sustainable and Sharia funds and retirement income forecasts. Employee annual management charge: Penfold is 0.75% (lower rates for larger balances), while People’s Pension is 0.50% with up to a 0.30% rebate for pots over £50k. People’s Pension charges a £4.50 annual admin fee; Penfold has none.

What Makes Penfold Stand Out?

Expert Support You Can Rely On

With Penfold, businesses gain access to dedicated account managers who provide expert guidance on compliance, onboarding, and payroll processing. The People’s Pension does not offer this level of personalised support.

Seamless Onboarding

Penfold ensures a smooth transition with fully managed onboarding and engaging launch events to help employees understand and maximise the value of their pension scheme.

Employee Engagement

Penfold’s focus on financial wellbeing tools and transparency helps employees make the most of their pensions, improving satisfaction and retention.

Easy for Employees, Easy for You

Getting stuck trying to solve clients and employees’ pension problems? Our app helps employees find and combine other pensions, and make changes to their pension independently.

A composite image featuring a laptop and smartphone displaying Penfold’s pension management interface, alongside two colleagues working together in an office setting. The laptop screen shows an employee management dashboard, while the phone displays a personal pension overview. In the background, a man in a yellow sweater works on a laptop, and a woman holding a coffee cup smiles while engaging with him. The setting is a modern, well-lit office.

Penfold's user-friendly approach and transparency revolutionised how we manage pensions for our clients.

Penfold has come in and changed the space, showing that we could have a pension that was user friendly as well. It's really adding value to not only the employers themselves but the employees of those employers.

The app is the big selling point with Penfold, having a nice clean UI that’s easy to understand for people because the vast majority of people aren’t pension literate.

Ben Nacca

Founder of Cone Accounting

How to Choose the Right Workplace Pension

Step 1: Define Your Priorities

Are you looking for higher fund performance, no business fees, or more advanced employee tools? Define your priorities to narrow down your options.

Step 2: Compare Key Features

Evaluate features, costs, and support services from providers like Penfold and The People’s Pension to see which best matches your business needs.

Step 3: Make the Switch Effortless

With Penfold, your dedicated account manager will guide you through every step, ensuring a smooth transition with minimal disruption.

Why Businesses Are Switching to Penfold

Save Time

Automate payroll and pension contributions.

Boost Compliance

Stay on top of regulatory requirements effortlessly.

Support Employees

Offer a pension scheme that’s easy to use and engaging.

Ready to upgrade your workplace pension? Join thousands of businesses already transforming their schemes with Penfold.

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