Aviva pension funds depend on the plan: the SIPP offers over 5,000 self-select funds and ready-made options; a workplace pension starts in a default.

The value of investments can fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than you paid in. If you are unsure whether your Aviva pension is the SIPP, a Company Pension or an older series, an FCA-authorised adviser can work that out, and this page's form starts a free call-back.

Which Aviva pension funds can I choose?

Your plan decides the list. Aviva's SIPP page names four types: the Universal Retirement Fund, ready-made funds, an Experts' Shortlist and more than 5,000 self-select funds. Aviva offers the Universal Retirement Fund only through the SIPP, and says it reduces investment risk step by step as your selected retirement date approaches. The ready-made funds are grouped by risk, from Lower to Higher. How the SIPP itself works is covered in the Aviva pension plan guide.

In a workplace pension the scheme sets the starting point. Aviva's page for employers says its workplace range offers over 200 funds from more than 30 fund managers, alongside the default funds below. Older plans belong to a fund series, assigned when you joined; Aviva says your annual statement shows it, with labels such as S2.

Which fund do Aviva workplace members start in?

It depends on the scheme type. According to Aviva's employer pages, My Future Focus is the default for its Group Personal Pension and the Aviva Master Trust, and My Future is the default for its Group Self-invested Personal Pension. My Future Vision, the newest, adds private markets and is for My Money trust-based schemes only.

My Future Focus and My Future each move money through three funds, named Long Term Growth, Growth and Consolidation; Aviva's employer page says My Future Vision uses a multi-fund glidepath too. In the My Future Focus member guide (print code SP99973_0426, April 2026), money stays in the first until 15 years before retirement, moves gradually into the second between 15 and 10 years out, and sits wholly in the third by the retirement date. In My Future Focus those moves "take place monthly and are at no extra cost". Aviva's employer page for My Future says its fund moves happen quarterly. My Future Focus also has separate paths for people who plan an annuity, drawdown or a cash lump sum.

The Company Pension key features (SP03303_0826, August 2026) say you start in the option chosen for your plan, and can stay or change. Aviva may change that default if you leave your employer, because of relevant laws, or on investment advice it receives. The wider question of who picks your fund is in can I choose where my pension is invested.

How do I switch Aviva pension funds?

On the SIPP, Aviva's key features (RD01002 07/2026) say "You can make changes to your investments at any time through MyAviva." In a Company Pension you can switch once the first payment has been invested; the key features say "The funds available may be restricted by your membership of the Company Pension." For older Aviva pensions, Aviva's Fund Centre says "it may be possible to switch funds using MyAviva".

The Company Pension key features add "We don’t currently charge you for switching your funds or investment approaches." A switch can be held up too: the delay "may be up to one month for most funds or up to six months" where a fund cannot easily be turned into cash. Aviva offers auto-switching on some products, which moves your funds gradually as your selected retirement date nears. The Company Pension terms add that stopping an approach ends the automatic switching and the automatic investing of payments into it, unless Aviva says otherwise. The pros and cons are in pension lifestyling.

What charges do Aviva's fund pages show?

Aviva uses different labels in different documents, so keep them apart.

  • Aviva charge (SIPP): 0.35% a year on your first £500,000 and nothing on the value above that, in the key features dated July 2026. Fund managers may take their own charge from the fund on top. See Aviva pension charges.
  • Ongoing charges figure (OCF), SIPP: how the SIPP key features show a fund manager's charge; for an insured fund the same charge is shown as the annual fund charge instead.
  • Annual fund charge (AFC), Company Pension: here it pays for setting up the plan, administration and investment management; your employer tells you the amount.
  • Annual management charge (AMC), My Future Focus: the member guide says your AMC may change as money moves between its funds, and your online account has the details.
  • Pension Series 3 (older plans): Aviva's fund series list labels this series, used by plans such as Your Company Stakeholder Pension @ Aviva and The Personal Pension, as "Funds with 1% Annual Management Charge" (Aviva Fund Centre, read 26 October 2026). That label covers Pension Series 3 only.

Costs can also arise inside a fund. The risk notes in the My Future Focus member guide say property "transaction costs are high due to legal costs, valuation costs and stamp duty". What dealing and transaction costs sit inside one particular fund is a question an adviser can answer without charge: just ask via this page's form. For the general charge ceiling on default funds, see workplace pension charges.

Where can I read an Aviva fund's factsheet?

Aviva's Fund Centre carries daily prices, performance and charges, and Aviva's fund series page sends existing customers there to see how a fund is doing, its fees and its risk/return rating. Aviva's guide to factsheets (GN20431A_0926, September 2026) says each fund gets a risk rating from 1 (lowest volatility) to 7 (highest), and the ratings are reviewed each year. A factsheet also shows asset allocation, returns over five years (or since launch) against its sector and benchmark where appropriate, and discrete annual performance. The Fund Centre reminds readers that "past performance is not a guide to the future".

Methods for comparing funds are in how to compare pension fund performance, and Aviva's with-profits funds are in the Pension Assured Fund and bonus rates.

More on Aviva's funds

Does Aviva offer ethical or Shariah pension funds?

Aviva's employer pages say the Stewardship funds were "the UK's first ethical funds of their kind" in 1984, and describe five of them. Its Master Trust self-select list includes a Shariah range, discussed in is a pension halal.

Can I use the Universal Retirement Fund in a workplace pension?

Aviva says the fund is available only through its SIPP. A workplace member starts in the scheme's own default instead.

Why might a switch take longer than expected?

The Company Pension key features give adverse market conditions, or unfair treatment of other investors, as possible reasons for a delay.

Switching with care

Fund choice is one lever among several, alongside charges and when you draw income, which Aviva pension withdrawal covers. Weighing up an Aviva fund switch? Your plan's fund list and its charges are worth going over with an FCA-authorised adviser; once this page's form is in, one phones you back free. If someone contacts you out of the blue about moving a pension, check the FCA's page on pension scams first.