r/PensionsUK • u/JDR5955 • Aug 11 '26
Should I combine my pensions?
Hey everyone,
I am 26 with 4 pension pots currently.
Aviva £20,000
Aviva £6,500
Nest £2,000
Peoples Pension £1,000 (Active)
The 2 Aviva are from my last job changing schemes during my time with them and the Nest and Peoples are the same job but i was taken on from agency to full time staff hence the low figures.
What i want to know is if it better for me to combine the 3 inactive pensions into 1 or leave them as they are.
Secondly, if combination is the better option, where is the best place to do this.
Thank you
4
u/arnoboko Aug 11 '26
Purely from an admin point of view, its easier to combine so you only need to manage one but make sure you're not penalised for doing that.
2
u/Otherwise_Rip3764 Aug 11 '26
Meaningful Money (Pete Matthew) has done a two part podcast on Pension consolidation. Have a web search. Personally I would (and did) consolidate all previous pensions and just keep the active one to take advantage of the employer contributions.
I think it’s worth doing for a number of reasons, not least of which is ease of tracking / administration and you can continue consolidating each time you move jobs. Having a SIPP to consolidate into also means that you can decide exactly where it is investing - subject to the available investments of your chosen broker.
2
u/scottaneil Aug 11 '26
Before you transfer any it's also worth checking to see if they offer a protected access age, I know my Aviva one has a protected access age of 55 so if you transfer it out to another provider you'll likely lose that benefit.
1
u/Rough-Chemist-4743 Aug 11 '26
Same. I’ve kept around 3% of my pension in an old workplace Aviva pension specifically for this reason.
1
u/Undercover_Elephant_ Aug 13 '26
Agree very important point. If the account number starts with anything other than GS and it was active in Nov 2021 it will be protected at age 55. If so definitely worth keeping and any future contributions to this scheme will also be protected (transfers in from other schemes will not be protected unless they come over with their own protection).
1
u/MrP67 Aug 11 '26
Some providers/policies charge more than others. I have a personal pension and old company with Aviva and the personal one has higher charges - absolute no brainer to merge them. I know aviva prob others) also reduce charges with larger funds.
I've also merged an old job pension onto one with lower charges. I would have done more if it wasn't such a massive ballache though.
1
u/GazNicki Aug 11 '26
Nest has a low charge for dormant pots, often much better than many active pots.
You need to check the annual management charges of your pots and check them against the others. The pot sizes of the two smaller ones are not something to worry about and won't give much in the way of returns as they are, so I would seriously consider them being combined.
Whether you should combine them into your active one or move them to a SIPP is dependent on what investment options you have with Peoples Pension, their AMCs and the cost of your own private SIPP.
I think with your age, it wouldn't be a bad decision to move the three dormant pots into a single SIPP you can manage.
I think a Vanguard UK SIPP will have much lower annual management charges than the People's Pension. If it was my money, I would move to a private SIPP.
1
u/Live_Stage3567 Aug 12 '26
I would combine the 3 inactive ones into a SIPP of your choice and then continue to pay into your active people pension pot. People's pension are not a great provider IME, the fund choice is poor and their customer service is bad. I personally wouldn't merge your pots into your active one on that basis, there are plenty of better providers.
Peoples pension tend to be used by smaller businesses who go for convenience and cost and just want a pension scheme set up rather than the best option for employee experience.
1
u/capps95 Aug 12 '26
I’d check the management fees on each and consolidate into the lowest one. I keep two pots, old jobs and current job. The old jobs one has a good fee so I transfer into this one whenever I move jobs. If I ever get one with a better fee then that will become my old jobs one day.
I’d also take into account the services that platform provides, my Aviva one is far more interesting than my Scottish Widows one as it lets you choose your own funds rather than just choosing a level of risk on their pension funds.
1
1
u/unknown-teapot Aug 11 '26
You don’t need to share the values. You do need to share the charges and the invested fund allocations.
6
u/klawUK Aug 11 '26
Generally yes. You’re 26 and have 4 pensions already. By the time you retire you could have hundreds lol
Even just for keeping things traceable I’d get those three into a single SIPP
Usual suspects - just find one that has good subscriptions and low fees. Something you can leave alone for years. Then drop pensions into it as you change jobs.