Best pension provider for self-employed workers – Vanguard
Vanguard’s SIPP is a great option for any self-employed worker looking to save into a pension. Vanguard is my personal top choice as a self-employed person operating through a limited company.
Investment choices: Vanguard offers flexibility in how you invest your pension. You can choose individual Vanguard funds or opt for a ready-made portfolio built for you by Vanguard. Vanguard also offers a ready-made Target Retirement Fund, adjusted to your planned retirement date, which offers an easy option for those who want a diversified portfolio but don’t want to choose their own investments.
Fees: Vanguard’s fees are competitive for those with larger portfolios. The annual platform fee is 0.15%, with fund fees averaging around 0.2%. For example, the Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap Fund gives you access to more than 7,000 global company shares for an ongoing charge of 0.23%. On a total pension worth £60,000, you’d pay annual fees of about £210.
For smaller portfolios, fees can be higher. Vanguard charges a £4 monthly platform fee on amounts less than £32,000. If you have £1,000 in your pension, this would be equal to a 4.8% annual fee at £48 a year — compared to 0.45% if investing in funds with Hargreaves Lansdown or £0 with InvestEngine. However, this £32,000 threshold applies to all Vanguard accounts, including ISAs.
Platform: Vanguard is user-friendly, allowing contributions as a sole trader or through a limited company. The Vanguard mobile app makes it easy to track your investments and make contributions, ensuring a smooth experience for self-employed users.
Learn more about why Vanguard is one of the best SIPP providers by reading my Vanguard review.
- Platform fee: 0.15% (£375 annual cap) plus fund fees
- Minimum contribution: £500 lump sum or £100 monthly
- Allows drawdown? Yes
- Allows contributions from limited company? Yes
Best flat-fee platform – Interactive Investor
Interactive Investor’s SIPP is a great option if you have a large amount in your pension — more than £100,000 — due to its flat-fee pricing structure.
Investment choices: You can invest in a wide range of assets through Interactive Investor (ii), including shares, funds, bonds, gilts, and ETFs. There are also ready-made portfolios if you don’t want to create your own.
Fees: ii is a flat-fee broker, charging a £12.99 monthly platform fee on portfolios worth more than £50,000 (£155.88 a year). Even if your money grows, the fee stays the same. On a £500,000 pension pot, for example, it works out a percentage fee of 0.03%. In comparison, you’d pay £1,750 a year with Hargreaves Lansdown if holding mutual funds or £200 a year if holding ETFs.
Trading fees are £3.99 for buying or selling any asset, although this is reduced to £0 if you invest monthly. This makes ii particularly cost-effective if you have a substantial pension and invest regularly.
Platform: Interactive Investor’s platform is user-friendly, offering an intuitive layout that makes it easy to manage your portfolio. In my opinion, it’s one of the easiest platforms to use and get to grips with. You can set price alerts, track up to 10 watchlists, and search for investments. For those who enjoy technical analysis, ii integrates with TradingView, offering over 100 indicators and 18 drawing tools for in-depth market tracking.
Interactive Investor’s SIPP is another top choice for me. Learn more by reading my comprehensive Interactive Investor review.
- Platform fee: £71.88 a year (under £50,000) / £155.88, plus fund fees
- Minimum contribution: £0
- Allows drawdown? Yes
- Allows contributions from limited company? Yes
Best for investment choice – Hargreaves Lansdown
Hargreaves Lansdown is the U.K.’s biggest DIY investment platform and a popular choice for investors because of its wide range of account and investment options.
Investment choices: Hargreaves Lansdown allows you to invest in mutual funds, ETFs, investment trusts, shares, and bonds. If you’re unsure where to invest, the platform provides a dedicated “investment ideas” page with analyst-selected funds, ready-made portfolios, and research tools to help you make informed decisions.
Fees: Hargreaves Lansdown’s fees vary depending on the type of investment. ETFs, investment trusts, and shares benefit from a £200 maximum cap on platform charges. For holding mutual funds, the platform fee is 0.45% up to £250,000, then drops to 0.25%. If you hold a large amount in these types of funds, you may find a cheaper platform. On a £400,000 portfolio held in mutual funds, for example, you’d pay fees of £1,800 a year (in addition to individual fund charges). Hargreaves Lansdown is the most expensive U.K. broker for one-off share trading, out of the 21 investment platforms I tested in 2025.
Platform: Hargreaves Lansdown offers a comprehensive website with market insights, company and fund data, and stock market overviews. You can annotate stock charts and overlay charts to compare different stocks and indices and you gain access to helpful articles and calculators, such as a useful pension calculator. That said, there are thousands of investments to choose from and the platform may feel overwhelming for beginner investors.
Overall, I really like Hargreaves Lansdown as an investment platform. Its research materials and tools make it a strong choice for investors who want in-depth analysis and guidance alongside their investment options. Learn more by reading my full Hargreaves Lansdown review.
- Platform fee: 0.45% (capped at £200 a year if investing in ETFs/shares)
- Minimum contribution: £100 lump sum / £25 a month
- Allows drawdown? Yes
- Allows contributions from limited company? Yes
Compare the best SIPPs for self-employed workers in 2025
Use this table to compare the best pension providers for self-employed individuals in the U.K., including key details like minimum deposit, annual platform fees, and trading costs for light investors. These top-rated SIPPs are ideal for sole traders and limited company directors looking to manage their retirement savings efficiently.
Other top-rated SIPPs for self-employed individuals in 2025
Here are other SIPP options I rate if you’re self-employed and looking for a pension:
- InvestEngine – Best for low fees, offers ETFs only. You won’t pay any platform charges if selecting your own ETFs. There is a 0.2% fee if you want to choose a managed portfolio. One downside of InvestEngine is that it doesn’t allow contributions from a limited company.
- PensionBee – Best for consolidation. PensionBee offers an easy way to combine multiple pensions and to invest in a ready-made portfolio. Fees range from 0.5% - 0.9%.
- Lloyds Bank – Best of the banks. The Lloyds Bank personal pension offers the chance to choose your own investments or opt for a ready-made portfolio. Fees start from 0.25%.
- AJ Bell Dodl – Best newcomer. A no-frills, low-fee SIPP offered through the Dodl app. Fees are a minimum of £1 a month, or 0.15%.
- Nutmeg – Best for ease of use. Nutmeg offers an easy-to-use app. You choose your risk level and investment preferences and Nutmeg will offer a ready-made portfolio tailored to your preferences.
FAQs
What pension options are available if I am self-employed?
If you’re self-employed, you can open a personal pension or SIPP through various online investment platforms. You can either manage your investments or choose a ready-made retirement fund. If you have a lot of money and don’t feel comfortable choosing your own investments, you can pay a financial adviser to do it for you. Some platforms — including Fidelity, Lloyds, and Bestinvest — offer this option.
Another option is a Lifetime ISA, but pensions generally offer greater benefits. Pensions allow for higher contributions and provide more tax relief, especially if you’re a higher-rate taxpayer (earning more than £50,270 a year or £43,663 in Scotland).
How much can I contribute to a self-employed pension?
You can contribute up to £60,000 a year into a pension (including tax relief), or up to 100% of your earnings, as a sole trader. However, the rules are slightly different if you make contributions through a limited company. You can pay up to £60,000 through your limited company, even if the income you take from the company is less than this.
What are the tax benefits of a self-employed pension?
The main benefit is that tax relief applies to your pension contributions. If you are a sole trader, for every £80 you contribute the government adds £20. Higher and additional rate taxpayers can claim a further 20% or 25% tax relief through their annual self-assessment tax return, taking the effective cost to you down to £60 or £55.
If you run your own limited company, pension contributions directly from the company are not subject to corporation tax. So if you pay £10,000 into a pension through your limited company, the whole £10,000 would go in. In contrast, if you kept it in the company you’d pay 19% corporation tax (or potentially more depending on your profits), plus income tax or dividend tax on amounts withdrawn as income.
When you can withdraw money from your pension from age 55, the first 25% is tax-free. Additional withdrawals are subject to income tax.
What self-employed pension provider has the lowest fees?
InvestEngine is the SIPP provider with the lowest fees, charging no platform fees. However, you can only invest in ETFs and cannot make pension contributions through a limited company.
Despite this, if you’re a sole trader or business owner looking to pay into a personal pension, InvestEngine offers a great product. You can invest in a diversified ETF that tracks world stock markets, or select a ready-made portfolio managed by InvestEngine. A managed portfolio has a 0.25% fee. Other ETF charges start from 0.03% a year.
Our testing
Why you should trust us
Elizabeth Anderson has been a financial journalist for more than a decade. She’s written for major national newspapers, contributed to corporate reports and research, and reviewed dozens of share dealing platforms, SIPP providers, ISAs, and brokerage firms. Elizabeth started her career at Bloomberg and has worked for the BBC, The Telegraph, The Times and the i newspaper. She is passionate about helping people understand finance and investing. A keen investor herself, Elizabeth invests through general dealing accounts, ISAs and several SIPPs.
Steven Hatzakis is a well-known finance writer with 25+ years of experience in the foreign exchange and financial markets. He is the Global Director of Online Broker Research for Reink Media Group, leading research efforts for ForexBrokers.com since 2016. He has served as a registered commodity futures representative for domestic and internationally-regulated brokerages. Steven holds a Series III license in the US as a Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA).
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At UK.StockBrokers.com, our online broker reviews are based on our collected quantitative data as well as the observations and qualified opinions of our expert researchers. Each year we publish tens of thousands of words of research and collect hundreds of data points while testing brokerage firms, share dealing platforms, SIPP providers, ISA providers, and other financial service providers relevant to U.K. investors.
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Our researchers thoroughly test a wide range of key features, such as the availability and quality of trading platforms for web, desktop, and mobile, charting, real-time and streaming quotes, and educational resources – among other important variables. We also evaluate the overall design of the mobile experience, and look for a fluid user experience moving between mobile and desktop platforms.
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