On a £250,000 pension pot, annual drawdown charges across UK providers range from £0 to £2,875 — a difference of £2,875 every year, before fund charges. The Cost Index tracks what the UK drawdown providers we list charge, in one standardised table. Updated quarterly; this snapshot is dated 16 July 2026.
| Pot size | Cheapest | Most expensive | Median | Annual spread |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £100,000 | InvestEngine £0 | St James's Place £1,150 | £350 | £1,150 |
| £250,000 | InvestEngine £0 | St James's Place £2,875 | £660 | £2,875 |
| £500,000 | InvestEngine £0 | St James's Place £5,750 | £1,175 | £5,750 |
Sustained over a 20-year retirement, the £2,875 annual gap on a £250,000 pot adds up to £57,500 — before any investment growth on the money saved.
Annual platform, product and (where bundled) advice charge for running a drawdown pot, ranked by the £250,000 column, cheapest first. Fund charges are excluded — see the methodology below.
| # | Provider | £100k pot | £250k pot | £500k pot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | InvestEngine | £0 | £0 | £0 |
| 2 | CMC Invest | £131.88 | £131.88 | £131.88 |
| 3 | Moneybox | £150 | £150 | £150 |
| 4 | Scottish Widows | £198 | £198 | £198 |
| 5 | IG | £210 | £210 | £210 |
| 6 | EQi | £250.68 | £250.68 | £250.68 |
| 7 | Interactive Investor | £101.88 | £251.88 | £251.88 |
| 8 | Barclays Direct Investing (formerly Smart Investor) | £270 | £270 | £270 |
| 9 | Vanguard | £150 | £375 | £375 |
| 10 | Fidelity Personal Investing | £350 | £500 | £1,000 |
| 11 | Prudential | £300 | £600 | £975 |
| 12 | AJ Bell Youinvest | £250 | £625 | £875 |
| 13 | Legal & General | £250 | £625 | £1,250 |
| 14 | Charles Stanley Direct | £360 | £660 | £660 |
| 15 | Quilter | £300 | £675 | £1,175 |
| 16 | Hargreaves Lansdown | £350 | £875 | £1,500 |
| 17 | Aviva | £350 | £875 | £1,750 |
| 18 | Nucleus (formerly James Hay) | £500 | £905 | £1,580 |
| 19 | Bestinvest | £400 | £1,000 | £1,500 |
| 20 | Standard Life | £450 | £1,125 | £2,250 |
| 21 | Royal London | £450 | £1,125 | £2,000 |
| 22 | PensionBee | £700 | £1,225 | £2,100 |
| 23 | J.P. Morgan Personal Investing (formerly Nutmeg) Includes investment management |
£750 | £1,275 | £2,150 |
| 24 | Aegon | £615 | £1,290 | £1,290 |
| 25 | Penfold | £750 | £1,875 | £3,750 |
| 26 | True Potential Includes ongoing advice |
£900 | £2,250 | £4,500 |
| 27 | St James's Place Includes ongoing advice |
£1,150 | £2,875 | £5,750 |
At £100,000 the cheapest option is a flat-fee platform. As pots grow, percentage-based charges grow with them, while flat and capped structures stand still — the cheapest providers on £250,000 cost the same on far larger pots. Where your pot sits relative to that crossover is the single most useful thing to know about drawdown charges.
On a £500,000 pot, capped and flat structures — Scottish Widows (£198) or Vanguard (capped at £375) — sit £1,375 to £1,552 a year below an uncapped percentage fee such as Aviva's £1,750, for a comparable service tier.
The most expensive entries bundle ongoing financial advice or discretionary investment management into their charge, while most of the list is execution-only. On a like-for-like platform-only basis the spread is narrower. The point of the index is not that advice is poor value — it is that you should know which of the two you are paying for, and what the same service costs elsewhere.
Journalists and researchers are welcome to cite this index as "Compare Drawdown — UK Pension Drawdown Cost Index, July 2026" with a link to this page. For comment from Phil Handley, DipPFS (Chartered Independent Financial Adviser), get in touch.
Compare the providers we track at your exact pot size with the fee comparison, model your income with the drawdown calculator, or find your best-fit provider.