PensionBee Review – Consolidate Your Pensions (Finally)

PensionBee is an online personal pension that’s best for bringing old workplace pensions together into one pot you can see and manage in an app. As of 29 October 2026 it charges one all-in annual fee of 0.50% to 0.95%, depending on which of its six plans you pick, and that fee is halved on the part of your pot over £100,000. Combining your pensions is free and there’s no exit fee. The catch is choice: you pick a ready-made plan rather than your own funds, and PensionBee doesn’t give financial advice.

We’re big fans of PensionBee and its refreshing approach to what was a very stale pension market. On safety: PensionBee is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), your pension is held by a separate trustee, and the money is invested through insurance-based funds that the FSCS (the UK’s compensation scheme) covers at 100% with no upper limit if a money manager fails.

PensionBee review: my verdict at a glance

The technology to find and pull together your mysterious missing pension pots is so helpful, and everything is about as simple as pensions get. It’s less suited to people who want to pick their own investments.

Who PensionBee suits (and who it doesn’t)

PensionBee suits you if

• You’ve had several jobs and have small pensions scattered across different providers.
• You want one fee that covers everything, with no platform or dealing charges to work out.
• You’re self-employed or a company director and want a personal pension you can pay into whenever you like.
• You’d rather pick a ready-made plan than choose funds yourself.

Look elsewhere if

• You want to choose your own funds, shares or ETFs (a SIPP, which is a personal pension you run yourself, gives you that).
• Your old pension has guaranteed benefits, like a final salary pension or a guaranteed annuity rate, that you’d lose by moving it.
• You want financial advice. PensionBee doesn’t offer it.
• You have a big pot in a cheap index fund already. Some platforms charge less once your pot is large.

PensionBee plans: what you can invest in

When you invest, your capital is at risk.

Every PensionBee plan is a single ready-made portfolio run by a big money manager. You pick one plan for your whole pot and can switch later. These are PensionBee’s own plan details and fees, checked on 29 October 2026.

Global Leaders, Climate and Shariah are 100% shares, so expect bigger ups and downs. Preserve aims to protect what you have, with lower expected growth.

Older plans you might still see mentioned

If you read older reviews (including the first version of this one), you’ll see plans that PensionBee no longer lists: Tailored, Fossil Fuel Free, Pre-Annuity and Impact. The Fossil Fuel Free Plan closed and its savers were moved into the Climate Plan, which launched in December 2024, and Global Leaders launched in February 2025.

Switching plans

PensionBee doesn’t charge to switch, but small dealing costs charged by the money managers can apply, and a switch can take up to 12 working days. Your money is out of the market for part of that time.

PensionBee fees: what you’ll actually pay

PensionBee charges one annual fee, worked out on the daily value of your pot and taken monthly. It says that fee covers everything: there are no separate platform, fund or trading fees. Above £100,000, you pay half the fee on the extra. This table shows the overall rate at different pot sizes (PensionBee’s figures, 29 October 2026).

Is PensionBee good value?

The sums in pounds:

• £50,000 in Tracker costs about £250 a year (0.50%). The same pot in Global Leaders is about £350, and in Shariah about £475.
• £250,000 in Global Leaders costs about £1,225 a year: £700 on the first £100,000 plus £525 on the other £150,000. That’s 0.49% overall.
• DIY platforms can be cheaper on paper, but compare like with like. Vanguard’s platform fee on £50,000 is 0.15% (£75), and fund charges come on top. PensionBee’s fee already includes the fund.

Other costs worth knowing:

• Transferring in and leaving: free. If you cancel within 30 days of opening, PensionBee sends your pensions back to your old providers for free, as long as they’ll accept them.
• Drawdown: no extra fee for taking an income in retirement.
• Full withdrawal fee: £150 if you take your whole pot out within 12 months of it being live with PensionBee, or if it’s worth less than £150 when you withdraw.
• Your old provider’s exit fees: PensionBee flags any exit fee or special benefit worth over £10 before it moves your pension, so you can decide.

Is PensionBee safe? FSCS protection and regulation

Yes. PensionBee isn’t a bank or an insurer. It runs the pension and the app; other big firms manage and hold the money:

• Regulation: PensionBee Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA (firm reference 744931).
• Who holds your pension: PensionBee Trustees Limited, a bare trustee (it holds the assets for you, kept separate from PensionBee’s own money).
• Who invests it: BlackRock, State Street and Legal & General, with HSBC behind the Shariah Plan. Custodians such as State Street Bank and Bank of New York Mellon hold the underlying investments.
• If a money manager fails: PensionBee’s plans are set up as long-term insurance policies, which the FSCS covers at 100% of a valid claim with no upper limit.
• If PensionBee itself fails: your pension sits with the trustee, not PensionBee. PensionBee’s key features document says claims against PensionBee are covered up to £85,000.

The FSCS never covers normal falls in the value of your investments. You can check any firm with the FSCS protection checker.

Read nextMoneybox Review 2026 – Pros & Cons (Personally Tested)

How PensionBee works: transfers, contributions and the app

You sign up online or in the app, tell PensionBee about your old pensions (the provider name and a policy number help), and it contacts those providers and asks for the money. How fast that happens depends on your old provider. You can then see your whole pot in the app, add money and change plan.

What we liked most is the app. You can also use the website, but we found the app particularly appealing: you can clearly see how your pension is doing and make ad hoc top-ups.

• Contributions: one-off or monthly, by bank transfer or standing order, with no minimum amount.
• Tax relief: for every £100 you pay in, the government adds £25, and PensionBee claims it for you. Higher and additional rate taxpayers can claim extra relief through Self Assessment or HMRC.
• Employers: an employer can pay into your PensionBee pension, but PensionBee isn’t a workplace scheme, so it can’t be used for auto-enrolment.
• Self-employed: sole traders pay in personally; limited company directors can also pay in from the business account.
• Pensions with guarantees: if your old pension has special benefits worth over £30,000, such as a final salary pension, the rules say you need a positive recommendation from an independent financial adviser before moving it.

Lost track of an old pension and don’t know the provider? The government’s free Pension Tracing Service can find contact details.

Pension changes in 2027 and 2028 that affect PensionBee savers

Three rule changes matter here, all from the government rather than PensionBee:

• Pensions and inheritance tax from 6 April 2027. Unused pension pots and most death benefits will count towards your estate for inheritance tax for deaths on or after that date. The law is already passed. The first £325,000 of an estate is normally tax free, plus up to £175,000 more if your home goes to your children or grandchildren.
• The two-year rule has gone. From 28 October 2026, death benefits from someone who died under 75 are no longer taxed just because they’re paid more than two years after the scheme hears of the death.
• Minimum pension age rises to 57 on 6 April 2028. Until then you can usually take money out from 55. PensionBee says it will honour a protected pension age of 55 or 56 if it’s told about it correctly.

You can name who should get your pension in the Account section of your PensionBee online account, and change it any time. With the inheritance tax change coming, it’s worth keeping those details up to date. Our guide on what to do with an inheritance covers the other side of this.

Taking money out of PensionBee

From 55 (57 from 6 April 2028) you can take up to 25% of your pension tax free, in one go or in chunks, up to the £268,275 lump sum allowance. The rest is taxed as income when you take it. PensionBee lets you set up automatic monthly withdrawals (drawdown) or take one-off amounts, and its retirement options include an annuity if you want a guaranteed income.

Before minimum pension age you can’t usually take money out, apart from rare cases like serious ill health. Our guide on withdrawing a pension before 55 explains the exceptions, and the retirement income calculator shows what a pot could pay you.

PensionBee reviews: what customers say

On Trustpilot, PensionBee scores 4.6 out of 5 from 13,520 reviews, with 82% giving five stars and 5% one star (checked 29 October 2026). PensionBee says over 337,000 customers use it, and lists awards including Boring Money Best Buy Pension six years running and Boring Money Best App three years running.

The praise is mostly about how easy it is and how good the app is, which matches what we found. The recurring complaints in recent reviews are slow replies to emails, paperwork and back-and-forth when setting up drawdown, and repeated requests to leave a review. PensionBee replies to most negative reviews.

PensionBee vs Moneybox vs Wealthify vs Vanguard

How PensionBee lines up with other simple pensions (each provider’s own pages, checked 29 October 2026):

PensionBee vs Vanguard

Vanguard can be cheaper for larger pots because of its £375 cap, but you choose and manage your own Vanguard funds. PensionBee is simpler and its fee includes the fund. More in our Vanguard review.

PensionBee vs Moneybox

Moneybox puts a pension next to ISAs and savings in one app, which suits people who want everything in one place. PensionBee does pensions only, with a stronger focus on finding and combining old pots. See our Moneybox review.

PensionBee vs a SIPP

If you want to pick your own shares and funds, a SIPP from an investing app gives you that control, usually for a lower platform fee, but you do the work. Our SIPP vs ISA guide explains how the two compare for retirement saving.

How we reviewed PensionBee

For this review we looked closely at PensionBee’s main features and how easy it is to use, including the app, transfers, plans and withdrawals, and we were impressed on both. Because fees and plans change, every fee, plan, rule and protection detail on this page was re-checked on PensionBee’s own website and documents, the FSCS website and GOV.UK on 29 October 2026.

Final verdict: is PensionBee worth it?

For anyone with a handful of old pensions who wants them in one place without thinking about funds, yes. The fees are clear, there’s no charge to move in or out, the app is excellent and your money is well protected. It’s worth comparing the cost against a cheaper platform if your pot is large and you’re happy to manage it yourself.

What we’d still like to see is more investment choice: you can’t mix funds or pick your own. And because there’s no advice, anyone with a final salary pension or valuable guarantees needs to get that elsewhere first. I’ve compared PensionBee with the alternatives in our best pension providers guide.

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