When a provider changes its charges, we log it here with a link to the provider's own announcement, and update the comparison. Changes to what we cover are logged too.
23 September 2026 — Cost Index September 2026 edition published. The UK Pension Drawdown Cost Index now covers 20 flexi-access drawdown platforms you can open yourself, with downloadable CSV and JSON data and a comparison against the July 2026 edition. See the Cost Index
23 September 2026 — Adviser-only providers moved to a new advised drawdown comparison. Aegon, Quilter, Prudential, Royal London, St James's Place and True Potential need a financial adviser, so their real cost includes an adviser's fee. They have moved from the DIY ranking and the Cost Index to a new advised drawdown comparison, alongside 18 other adviser platforms and products, where the adviser's fee is shown next to each platform charge. Their provider pages and reviews are unchanged. Compare advised drawdown platforms
23 September 2026 — Nucleus (formerly James Hay) removed from the comparison. The remaining James Hay SIPPs are closed to new business, and the Nucleus Flexi SIPP they moved to in February 2026 is only available through a financial adviser. As you cannot open it yourself, it is no longer in our ranking or the Cost Index. Compare the platforms you can open
23 September 2026 — interactive investor, Prudential and IG costs corrected after a full check of providers' charges pages. We re-read every provider's own charges pages in full. interactive investor's pension admin fee is included in its plan price, not charged on top, so its yearly cost falls from £101.88 to £71.88 up to £100,000 and from £251.88 to £179.88 above. Prudential charges one rate on the whole account, set by its value, so its cost falls to £200, £375 and £750 at £100,000, £250,000 and £500,000 (from £300, £600 and £975). IG's drawdown income fee depends on how often you are paid (£240 monthly, £180 quarterly, £150 yearly); we keep the quarterly figure, so its £390 cost is unchanged, and have corrected its other charges. We also filled in or corrected withdrawal, transfer and dealing charges for EQi, Barclays, Charles Stanley, AJ Bell, Fidelity, Standard Life and Scottish Widows. See the updated ranking
23 September 2026 — interactive investor dealing charges and Charles Stanley withdrawal fee corrected. We said interactive investor charged £3.99 a trade on every plan. That is the Core price: on Plus, fund trades are £1.49, and on Premium, fund trades are free and UK and US share trades are £2.99. We have also added Charles Stanley's £25 + VAT fee for each ad-hoc drawdown withdrawal to its provider page (it was already in our cost calculator and review). Neither change affects the yearly platform costs in our ranking. Compare dealing and withdrawal costs
23 September 2026 — Penfold's lower rate above £100k now included; Moneybox fee wording corrected. Penfold charges 0.75% a year on the first £100,000 and 0.40% on the amount above, but we had used 0.75% on the whole pot. Its yearly cost falls from £1,875 to £1,350 on a £250,000 pot and from £3,750 to £2,350 on £500,000 (unchanged at £750 on £100,000). For Moneybox, other providers' funds cost 0.45% on the first £100,000 and 0.15% above, not 0.45% with no reduction; our Moneybox figures use its own funds, so they do not change. Penfold Charges Guide
23 September 2026 — Drawdown fees added for IG and EQi. Our figures for IG and EQi now include their yearly drawdown charges, which were in the providers' published schedules but missing from our data. EQi charges £150 + VAT (£180) a year once you are in drawdown, so its yearly cost (on its £10.99 plan) rises from £250.68 to £430.68. IG's administrator Options charges £240, £180 or £150 a year for monthly, quarterly or yearly income; we use the quarterly £180, so IG's yearly cost rises from £210 to £390 on any pot size. See the updated ranking
10 September 2026 — Platforms without flexi-access drawdown removed from the ranking. Trading 212, Freetrade and Dodl were removed because they do not offer flexi-access drawdown, so they cannot be used to take a flexible retirement income. How we compare
3 September 2026 — More DIY platforms added. InvestEngine, Barclays, EQi, Moneybox, CMC Invest and Penfold were added to the comparison with their published fees (Trading 212, Freetrade and Dodl were also added, then removed on 10 September). Compare all platforms
1 March 2026 — Hargreaves Lansdown cuts its SIPP platform fee. HL's platform fee on funds fell from 0.45% to 0.35% on the first £250,000, with the annual cap on shares, ETFs and investment trusts held in a SIPP set at £150. Online share deals cost £6.95 and a £1.95 charge applies to fund deals. Hargreaves Lansdown: fee changes
1 February 2026 — interactive investor launches new price plans. ii's plans became Core (£5.99 a month, for pots up to £100,000), Plus (£14.99) and Premium (£39.99), with SIPP prices including a pension administration charge (£2.50 a month on Core, £6 on Plus and Premium). interactive investor: new price plans