Work changes

There are lots of things to sort out when you leave a job. Thinking about your workplace pension pot is one of them. 

What happens to my Nest pension pot?

Your pension pot doesn’t belong to your employer, it belongs to you. The money in it is yours, and you can keep track of it by logging into your online Nest account. We’ll carry on looking after your pension savings, working hard to grow your money over the years.

Your pot is yours for life

Over 1 million employers use Nest as their pension provider. If you work for one of them in the future and join Nest again, your pension contributions will go into the same pot.

If your circumstances change and you become self-employed, you can also choose to save for your future by contributing into the same Nest pension pot.

Your savings are secure

Our team of award-winning experts look after your money carefully. That means investing it in different things around the world that we think will increase in value and boost your pot.

You’re in safe hands – Nest is recognised in the industry for helping your money to grow while taking as little risk with it as possible.

Your money keeps doing good

Your pot will still be invested in businesses and projects likely to make you profits and benefit society, like windfarms and social housing schemes. It’s all part of our goal to give you a bigger pension in a better world.

Your charges stay low

You'll pay an annual management charge of 0.3% on the balance of your pot – that’s less than most other providers will charge you.

What do I need to do?

You don’t need to do anything. But you should log in to your Nest account and check your contact details are up to date, so we can stay in touch about your money.

If you’ve not logged in before, you’ll need your Nest ID to hand. You can find this on the welcome letter you received when you joined Nest. You'll also need your National Insurance number and your date of birth. If you have any issues you can visit our help centre.

Any final contributions will be made into your pot shortly after you get paid for the last time. Your employer will let us know that you’ve left.

What can I do with my pot?

You have options whether you’d like us to manage your pension savings for you or whether you’d like to take a bit more control. It’s completely up to you.

Leave it with us

You can simply leave your pot where it is. We’ll keep working to grow it until you’re ready to take money out at retirement.

Just remember – whenever your contact details change, you should log in and update them.

Keep contributing

If you want to carry on paying into your Nest pension pot, you can.

From your online account you can set up regular contributions by Direct Debit and make single lump sum payments. If you’re eligible, the government will still top-up your pot with tax relief.

You’ll pay our 1.8% contribution charge on any new contributions you make.

Combine your pension pots

The average UK worker has 11 jobs in their lifetime – that could mean 11 pots to manage. Why not transfer your other pots to Nest and keep track of your retirement savings in one easy-to-use account?

Transfer to another provider

You can transfer your pot away from Nest but check you’re getting a good deal first. Find out how much a new provider will charge you and how its funds perform compared to Nest’s. Our four-point transfer checklist can help.

Access your money

If you’re over 55, you can take money out of your pot. It’s important you understand all your options before making a decision.

The government-backed Pension Wise service provides free and independent guidance that can help you with this.