Most people do not choose between these; their employer does. But if you are consolidating old pots or weighing a transfer, here is how the charges and reviews actually stack up.
Charges verified July 2026. Pension transfers are a big decision; this is information, not advice.
Your pension charge is one number. Whether you're saving enough is another - and we answer it from your real pensions, ISAs and the State Pension.
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Most people shouldn’t transfer out of a defined-benefit scheme. If you’re in one, the rest of this page is information, not a recommendation. For defined-contribution pots (the common case) a transfer is usually fine — the charges comparison below is what you’re here for.
Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland customers who want their pension inside their banking app.
People with scattered old workplace pots who want them combined into one simple plan.
Pick the situation closest to yours. The advice below changes accordingly. No account, nothing to fill in.
| Charge | Scottish Widows | PensionBee |
|---|---|---|
| Annual charge | 0.30% a year on the Ready-Made Pension (at least £5 a month) plus a 0.10% investment charge; 0.25% on the SIPP, capped at £16.50 a month | 0.50% to 0.95% depending on plan, halved on the portion above £100k |
| Workplace scheme charge | Set by your employer's scheme, capped at 0.75% for auto-enrolment defaults | Not applicable (personal pension) |
| Fund charges | Vary by fund; older policies can carry total charges up to 1.5% | Included in the single annual charge |
| Contribution charge | None on modern products | None |
| Transfers in | Free | Free, and PensionBee does the legwork of finding old pots |
| Drawdown | Included on the Retirement Account | Included from age 55 (57 from 2028), no drawdown fees |
On a £100,000 pension left to grow for 20 years, a 0.25% a year difference in charges is about £11,800 (illustrative). Add your pension balances to Delphina yourself and see what charges cost you by retirement and whether you're on track.
See what my charges costIllustrative: £100,000, 5% a year growth before charges, 0.25% vs 0.50% a year in charges, no further contributions. Not a recommendation of Scottish Widows or PensionBee. Delphina is guidance, not financial advice.
Recent reviews praise professional, knowledgeable phone staff, and the rating has improved markedly in recent years.
Longer-standing complaints centre on transfer speed and the admin on older policies.
Read Scottish Widows reviews on TrustpilotThe highest-rated pension provider on the Origo Pension Transfer Index. Reviewers repeatedly mention painless transfers and an app that finally makes their pension make sense.
The main pushback is price: 0.70% on the default plan is more than a DIY SIPP holding a cheap tracker.
Read PensionBee reviews on TrustpilotScottish Widows runs pensions for millions of workplace savers and its Ready-Made Pension charges 0.30% a year plus a 0.10% investment charge. Workplace pension members can view their Scottish Widows pension alongside their Lloyds Bank, Halifax or Bank of Scotland online banking.
The name spans a century of products, though. If your Scottish Widows pension dates from before roughly 2010, it may be on much older terms, and comparing its actual charge against a modern alternative is worth an evening.
PensionBee took the most painful job in UK personal finance, finding and combining old pensions, and made it an app onboarding flow. Transfers are handled for you, the fee is a single number, and drawdown is built in.
You pay for that simplicity. The default Global Leaders plan at 0.70% is roughly triple the cost of holding a global tracker in a cheap SIPP. Whether that premium is worth it depends on whether you would actually do the consolidation yourself. For many people, the answer is no, and PensionBee is the difference between sorted and never done.
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See where I standIf you are in a defined-benefit scheme, almost certainly no - the guaranteed income and spousal benefits are hard to beat. For defined-contribution pots, the decision is about charges and what you actually want from the pension. Charges of 0.5%-1.0% a year compound into a serious drag over 20+ years.
Charges vary by product. The table above shows the published rates verified against each provider. Look at the all-in annual figure, not the platform fee alone - fund charges and adviser charges stack on top.
No. Charges tell you what you pay. Whether the plan behind the charges gets you to the retirement you want is a separate question - and it is the one most readers land here actually trying to answer.
A small charge difference is worth optimising. Knowing whether you are saving enough in the first place is worth far more. Delphina models your pensions, ISAs and investments and tells you where you actually stand.
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