Frequently Asked Questions

PensionBee offers a personal pension scheme and allows the customer to select their own plan from a range of investments. Our money managers include BlackRock, HSBC and State Street Global Advisors. PensionBee doesn’t provide financial advice or recommendations.

The PensionBee Personal Pension is governed by a Trust Deed and Rules. PensionBee Limited is the administrator of the scheme and PensionBee Trustees Limited are the trustees. You can find out more in our key literature, such as our Terms and Conditions and Key Features Document.

The BeeHive is the customer’s online account and is accessible via our website and app. BeeHive features include: live pension balance, easy bank transfer contributions, and more. A BeeKeeper is the customer’s dedicated account manager. A Nectar Collector is the pension administrator.

No, PensionBee is an execution-only pension provider. We don’t support adviser charging.

PensionBee is set up to give information to financial advisors who are regulated by the FCA. We’ll provide information only in response to a valid ‘Letter of Authority’. As our systems are highly automated, we can’t support an ongoing third-party from a compliance standpoint or guarantee that our level of service or communication will be the same.

If sending us a Letter of Authority (LOA), please make sure it includes:

• PensionBee Policy Number;
• full legal name;
• date of birth;
• registered address;
• National Insurance number; and
• customer’s signature.*

*We accept electronic signatures.

We’re looking into accommodating third parties, but we aren’t set up to do this yet. We don’t work with non-FCA regulated UK or overseas firms.

The customer is able to find this by accessing the ‘Balance‘ section of their BeeHive. The ‘fund value’ and ‘transfer fund value’ are the same.

Yes, this can be found under the ‘Balance’ section of the BeeHive. The ‘Balance’ section logs both historic and pending transactions, including:

• contributions;
• financial rewards (such as our refer a friend scheme);
• HMRC tax relief;
• pension transfers; and
• withdrawals.

The customer can find this information in their first Annual Statement. This can be found under the ‘My plan’ section of their BeeHive, while the ‘Balance‘ section shows a full transaction history back to the start of the plan.

No, we don’t provide bespoke projections. Instead we produce pre-sales and post-sales illustrations as well as Annual Statements. We have a pension calculator available in the ‘Analytics’ section of the BeeHive, but results from our calculators shouldn’t be considered as an illustration.

The pension input period runs in line with the tax year.

Customers can only invest in one plan (or fund) at a time, as we don’t offer plan splitting. All our plans are unit linked and each plan is managed by either:

• BlackRock;
• HSBC; or
• State Street Global Advisors.

Please visit our Plans page for a full summary of all the options available.

Do your plans have multiple sections?

No, our plans don’t have multiple sections.

Are these funds illiquid or liquid?

All our investment plans are liquid.

Do you have any lifestyle or target dated plans?

Our Tailored Plan is a target dated product.

What’s the Allocation Rate on PensionBee pensions?

The Allocation Rate on our pensions is 100%.

Yes, customers can switch between plans online under the ‘Plans’ section of their BeeHive.

Is there a limit on the number of plan switches per year?

No, there is no limit to the number of plan switches a customer can make.

Annual costs vary by investment choice. Please see our Fees page for a full summary. Please note the quoted annual management costs include both fund and wrapper charges.

What are the transaction costs?

Our transaction costs disclosure for plans can be found on our website.

At PensionBee, we take care of customers’ pensions for one simple annual fee. You can find more information on our Fees page.

Are there any fees associated with a customer making contributions?

No, it’s free for customers to make contributions.

Do you charge an initial setup fee?

No, there is no initial setup fee.

Is there a fee for switching plans?

No, PensionBee doesn’t charge for plan switches.

We don’t offer any special benefits with our defined contribution pension plans.

Do any of your plans have bonuses attached?

No, none of our plans have bonuses attached. We don’t offer any with-profits plans or protected tax-free cash.

Do any of your plans have life cover or accidental death cover attached?

No, our plans don’t have life cover or accidental death cover attached. We’ve never offered these types of plans in the past.

Do any of your plans have guaranteed annuity rates or other guarantees attached?

No, none of our plans have guarantees attached to them.

Do any of your plans have a protected pension age?

No, none of our plans have a protected pension age.

There are no fee waivers. There is a fee discount: we’ll halve the fee on the part of savings over £100,000.

Our plans are also available to view on Morningstar.

Tailored Plan

This plan has eight vintages, based on the year a customer retires. Retirement age is 65.

BlackRock Life LifePath Flexi Class O. ISIN: GB00BFBFXL05 / BFBFXL0. View on Morningstar.

BlackRock Life LifePath 2025-2027 Class O. ISIN: GB00BFBFXC14 / BFBFXC1. View on Morningstar.

BlackRock Life LifePath 2031-2033 Class O. ISIN: GB00BFBFXD21 / BFBFXD2. View on Morningstar.

BlackRock Life LifePath 2037-2039 Class O. ISIN: GB00BFBFXF45 / BFBFXF4. View on Morningstar.

BlackRock Life LifePath 2043-2045 Class O. ISIN: GB00BFBFXG51 / BFBFXG5. View on Morningstar.

BlackRock Life LifePath 2049-2051 Class O. ISIN: GB00BFBFXH68 / BFBFXH6. View on Morningstar.

BlackRock Life LifePath 2055-2057 Class O. ISIN: GB00BFBFXJ82 / BFBFXJ8. View on Morningstar.

BlackRock Life LifePath 2061-2063 Class O. ISIN: GB00BFBFXK97 / BFBFXK9. View on Morningstar.

Tracker Plan

MPF Balanced Index Sub-Fund. ISIN: GB00BD35QM61. View on Morningstar.

Pre-Annuity Plan

MPF Stlg Non-Gilts Bd Over 15 Yr Sub-Fund. ISIN: GB00BDCLK564. View on Morningstar.

4Plus Plan

MPF Dynamic Diversified Sub-Fund. ISIN: GB00BG217453. View on Morningstar.

Preserve Plan

MPF Stlg Liquidity Sub-Fund. ISIN: GB00BWDBJF10. View on Morningstar.

Shariah Plan

HSBC MPF Islamic Equity Index Sub-Fund. ISIN: GB00BF2SYC67. View on Morningstar. (This fund is life-wrapped by State Street MPF).

Impact Plan

BlackRock Life Impact Broad Equity Fund. ISIN: GB00BN091826. View on Morningstar.

For bid offer spread, we disclose what our money managers report under the requirements that apply to the products. They may or may not apply depending on the date of the trade as the fund manager aims to cross trades internally. The costs are on an annualised basis for each plan. Please see our Transaction Costs Disclosure for further information.

If a customer’s new provider uses Origo Options, they’ll need to request a transfer that way. They should search for ‘PensionBee’ to avoid delays. PensionBee aims to transfer to other eligible schemes within 14 days. Eligible pension schemes are Financial Conduct Authority regulated and The Pensions Regulator authorised.

If the provider isn’t using Origo Options, they’ll need to email their transfer-in forms. The contact email is transfersout@pensionbee.com. These forms aren’t always complete and may require further information to transfer. Our average transfer out time to other UK regulated providers is 10 days.

If sending us a Letter of Authority (LOA), please make sure it includes the following:

• PensionBee Policy Number;
• full legal name;
• date of birth;
• registered address;
• National Insurance number; and
• customer’s signature.*

*We accept electronic signatures.

The process of transferring a pension may take up to six months, as we may need to get information from third parties, such as HMRC. We’ll endeavour to complete this as soon as possible. We won’t usually need identification, though in some cases this may be required. We may decline a transfer out in order to meet our regulatory obligations.

Yes, we do. Partial transfers are permitted, but 5% needs to be left in the pot. These should be requested by the receiving provider on Origo Options. There’s no minimum value that can be transferred out of the plan.

No, PensionBee transfers pensions on an individual basis and this isn’t part of a bulk or block transfer.

All our plans are liquid. We don’t currently have a property fund.

There is no exit fee if a customer leaves PensionBee at any point. There’s also a 30-day cancellation policy. This means we’ll return a customer’s pensions to their old providers free of charge if they cancel within 30 days. Please note, this assumes the old provider is willing to take back their funds. You can find more information on our Fees page.

Based on current legislation, customers can access their pension from the age of 55 (this will rise to the age of 57 on 6 April 2028). We don’t offer customers any protected retirement age benefits with their pension. Once customers become eligible, our drawdown options get activated automatically. There’s no maximum age for customers to withdraw funds or their available tax-free cash.

What is the customer’s retirement date?

We assume a retirement age of 65 for all customers.

What if a customer dies?

On the death of a customer, we only support lump sum death benefits payments. Customers are able to add their preferred beneficiaries through their BeeHive.

When customers reach the age of 55 (rising to 57 in 2028) we give them two ways to withdraw money from their pension:

• take their pension through PensionBee’s flexi-access drawdown; and / or
• buy a pension annuity through our partner, Legal & General.

Are the small pot options available when encashing?

No, this feature isn’t available.

Can you take more than 25% protected tax-free cash?

No, we don’t offer more than 25% protected tax-free cash.

Does PensionBee offer the uncrystallised fund lump sum option?

No, we only offer flexi-access drawdown.

Customers can make one taxable cash withdrawal per tax month. Withdrawals must be paid into a UK bank account in the name of the customer and the bank must be directly regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). We’re unable to authorise payments to any bank accounts that don’t meet this criteria.

Can a regular monthly income be set up?

We’re currently testing this feature and it will be widely available soon.

Do customers need to move this existing plan to go into drawdown?

No, internal transfers aren’t required for drawdown.

What funds are available to customers once they’re in drawdown?

Our plans are available to all customers, regardless of drawdown status. These can be found on our Plans page.

Unlike other providers, we won’t charge customers extra fees for pension drawdown. If a customer’s pot has been with PensionBee for less than a year and they withdraw it in full, a full withdrawal fee of £150 will apply. This is issued, even if the value of their account is less than £150, at the point of withdrawal.

Are there any ad-hoc withdrawal fees?

No, there are no ad-hoc withdrawal fees for drawdown.

Is there a minimum withdrawal amount?

No, there’s no minimum withdrawal amount for drawdown.

Does the annual management charge when the customer is in drawdown?

No, the annual management charge doesn’t change at drawdown.

Yes, PensionBee is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 744931). You can see this in the Financial Conduct Authority’s Register.

At PensionBee, we take the security of our customers’ personal information very seriously. We take administrative, legal, technical and physical precautions to ensure the security of customer information, all in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (“UK GDPR”).

By entering their information into our system, our customers give us permission to use their information in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Yes, a typical PensionBee customer will be invested in the PensionBee Personal Pension. Our money managers will keep these assets safe using global custodians, including:

• Bank of New York Mellon (BlackRock);
• State Street Bank (State Street Global Advisors); and
• Citibank (Legal & General Investment Management).

The holdings in the PensionBee Personal Pension are structured as long-term insurance contracts. If our money managers collapse, we’ll contact the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). If they accept our claim, they’ll cover 100% of the pension - with no upper cap. PensionBee will pursue compensation on behalf of our customers.

Information on the FSCS applicability to pensions and to PensionBee is available here.

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