Compare workplace pension providers
Not all workplace pensions are created equal.
The best providers do more than help you meet your auto-enrolment duties. They help employees engage with their pension, reduce administration, and turn a forgotten benefit into something people actually value.
- Compare the UK’s leading workplace pension providers
- Discover what matters beyond fees and compliance
- See why thousands of employers have chosen Penfold
Trusted by thousands of UK businesses
From fast-growing startups to established employers, businesses across the UK trust Penfold to manage their workplace pension.
How should you compare workplace pension providers?
Most comparisons focus on charges, compliance and administration. Those things matter.
But if your employees don’t understand their pension, don’t engage with it, and don’t see value in it, you’re missing the opportunity to turn one of your most valuable employee benefits into something genuinely meaningful.
The best workplace pension providers help both employers and employees get more from their pension.
What separates great pension providers from average ones?
Employee engagement
Do employees understand and use their pension?
Employer experience
Can you manage your pension scheme easily?
Expert support
Will somebody actually help when you need it?
Salary sacrifice
Can you reduce National Insurance costs?
Investment quality
Are employees getting value for money?
Ease of switching
Can you move providers without disruption?
The signs you’ve outgrown your current pension provider
Many businesses choose a pension provider when they first set up and never review it again.
As businesses grow, expectations change. That’s why more employers are comparing workplace pension providers and exploring whether there’s a better option available.
Employees rarely check their pension
Pension questions end up with HR
No salary sacrifice arrangement
Limited support when issues arise
Why more employers are reviewing their workplace pension
Many businesses set up a workplace pension simply to meet their auto-enrolment duties. Years later, they realise..
- Employees rarely engage with it
- Support is difficult to access
- Salary sacrifice isn’t being fully utilised
- Administration takes longer than it should
- The pension feels like a compliance exercise rather than a benefit
A modern workplace pension should do more than satisfy regulations.
It should support your employees’ financial wellbeing while making life easier for your business.
What employers should look for
Not all workplace pension providers offer the same experience. Compare the features that matter most to employers.
What employees care about
The best workplace pension providers make pensions easy to understand, access and manage.
Strong investments matter too
While employee engagement, support and ease of administration are often the biggest factors when choosing a workplace pension provider, investment performance remains an important consideration.
Penfold offers carefully selected investment options managed by leading investment managers, with competitive fees and strong long-term performance.
Returns are shown on an annualised basis, based on performance over the past five years to 31 December 2025.
Figures are net of investment fees but gross of provider fees. Past performance, actual or simulated, is also not a reliable indicator of future returns. All investments carry risk and your investment value can go up or down. Returns may increase or decrease as a result of currency fluctuations.
Figures for the Penfold Plan are based on a simulation, provided by BlackRock, of how the portfolio might have performed had these building blocks of the plan existed together over the last five years. It’s important to note that it cannot be definitively said exactly how this plan would have performed in the past. Simulations should not be taken as a guarantee of expected past or future performance, but are designed to be illustrative only. A full list of the assumptions made to generate the simulations is available and should be carefully considered.
The figures shown represent a weighted average of performance across 30 age cohorts (ages 36-65) to provide an overall view of member outcomes. Individual returns will vary depending on fund allocation at different points in a member’s investment journey, as well as personal fee structures. For consistency in comparison, returns have been estimated based on a typical pot size of £10,000 and an average salary of £30,000. Actual returns may differ due to factors such as specific employer-negotiated fees, individual pot sizes, and salary levels.
Returns are based on data collected by investment advisors DWA from a variety of sources, including individual providers and data published on Morningstar. Where possible, actual return data has been used; however, some assumptions were made based on underlying fund data due to availability limitations. The impact of charges has been applied on a monthly basis, which may create minor discrepancies with actual experience depending on the charging structure. DWA is happy to review and correct any discrepancies should further evidence be provided.
A workplace pension people actually use
Most workplace pensions are ignored.
Penfold is designed to help employees understand, engage with and value their pension.
50%
£1.4 billion
140,000+
Why businesses switch to Penfold
Penfold is dramatically better than anything we’ve worked with before and has helped me by removing all of the admin that comes with pensions. ‘Saving time’ is one of the key benefits that encourages me to recommend it to others. Penfold’s been a huge success at Cuvva, with 88% of the company logging into the app to view their pensions.
