Asset Servicing Administrator

Sweeping reforms to pensions aimed at driving more investment into ‘productive’ UK assets will require all workplace schemes to operate at ‘megafund’ level by 2030, with schemes holding at least £25 billion in assets, the government saysTom Selby, director of public policy at AJ Bell, comments: “The government’s workplace pensions agenda has been clear for a long time now – cajole pension schemes, by hook or by crook, to invest a greater share of millions of Brits’ hard-earned retirement pots in UK plc. These so-called ‘Mansion House’ reforms were kick-started by the previous Conservative government and are being accelerated under Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour administration, with ministers placing workplace pensions front-and-centre of an increasingly desperate search for economic growth.  “The Pension Schemes Bill hopes to achieve this revolution through a combination of consolidation of workplace schemes in the private sector and across local authority schemes into ‘megafunds’ and voluntary agreements by those schemes to boost their allocation to UK-based investments, with a significant emphasis on private equity and ‘productive’ assets. “Perhaps most controversially, the government says it will create a ‘sword of Damocles’ power in legislation threatening to set mandatory asset allocation targets if schemes do not do this voluntarily. In reality, this essentially puts a gun to schemes’ heads and will create those mandatory targets in all-but-name. “Many of the claims about the benefits of these reforms to pension savers and retirees need to be taken with a fistful of salt. While there may be some efficiency benefits to consolidation, these are difficult to quantify with certainty and reducing competition in the market may stifle incentives to deliver innovation. In addition, private equity investing is notoriously high cost and high risk, meaning it is entirely possible people will end up worse off if those investments fail to perform over the long term. “There is a clear danger that conflating government policy goals – namely driving higher levels of investment in the UK and ultimately economic growth – with those of savers and retirees means the latter will be risked in pursuit of the former

One-fifth (19%) of non-retirees have no private pension, according to the latest FCA Financial Lives surve, meanwhile two-fifths (41%) are not currently contributing to a pension“Many individuals appear to be setting themselves up for a nasty shock later in life by not putting enough money away for the future,” says Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.“The FCA’s Financial Lives survey implies that a lot of people will be too reliant on the state pension to pay the bills and support their lifestyle once entering retirement. The full state pension currently adds up to £11,973 a year and while that should help keep a roof over your head, it doesn’t leave much left over for any of life’s luxuries.A lot of people use a combination of the state pension, workplace pensions and personal pensions to fund their retirement, together with cash savings and ISA investments. Unfortunately, not everyone is in a position to draw from a range of accounts. Some might only have a tiny nest egg by the time they retire. The FCA’s survey shows that one third of adults have less than £10,000 saved in their pension, which is worrying. That’s not such an issue if they’re in their twenties or early thirties and have decades ahead to put money away, but it’s troubling if someone who is in their forties, fifties or early sixties is in this situation

A Freedom of Information (FOI) request obtained by AJ Bell’s Dodl investing app reveals that nearly two-thirds of Premium Bond holders, equivalent to just under 14.4 million people, have never won a prize. Premium Bonds are held by around 22.7 million people which makes them one of the UK’s most popular savings products, despite the majority of Premium Bond holders never winning anything. Millions more £50 and £100 prizes have been dished out since 2022, and they now make up a larger proportion of winning prizes than the lowest £25 prize. Although the number of higher value prizes has also seen a jump, the vast majority of Premium Bond prizes were worth £100 or less in 2024, meaning the chance of winning the top prizes is still very small.There is a whopping £127.7 billion sat in Premium Bonds, with the average overall holding coming in at £5,406. However, the average holding for the 5.1 million Premium Bond holders who won in the last 12 months sits at £23,397, with 80% of those winners winning more than once during that period. When you factor in that many people will have been holding Premium Bonds for decades, perhaps receiving them as gifts when they were young, that means they may have missed out on significant returns in a higher paying cash account or by investing. Source: FOI obtained from NSI by AJ Bell. *2025 figures up to 5 March 2025.Charlene Young, senior pensions and savings expert at AJ Bell, comments:“Premium Bonds have long been a popular place for savers to stick their cash and try their luck at winning a prize in the monthly draws, yet data obtained from a Freedom of Information request by AJ Bell’s Dodl investing app reveals that two-thirds of people holding these bonds have never won anything. Of the 22.7 million current Premium Bond holders, a staggering 14.4 million have never won