Nest pension charges have two parts: 1.8% on each contribution and 0.3% a year on the pot, according to Nest Corporation's 2025 to 2026 report.
Nest charges every member at the same two rates. Below are Nest's own figures with their dates, how a charge built like Nest's sits against the legal limits for default funds, and where the cost shows up in your pot. The adviser behind the form on this page cannot change what Nest charges, but if you also hold old pots or a personal pension, an FCA-authorised adviser can set those next to your Nest account, and a short enquiry is all it takes to ask. The value of investments can fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than was paid in.
What Nest charges, in its own published figures
Nest Corporation's annual report and accounts for 2025 to 2026, signed on 30 June 2026 and published on GOV.UK in July 2026, says: "Our pricing structure is set out by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. The Board has set a contribution charge of 1.8% and an annual management charge of 0.3%." Nest's own member page on contributions and fees, in the copy archived on 1 August 2026, gives the same two rates.
The report's fees and charges section explains the two parts: "a contribution charge of 1.8% on the value of each new contribution into the member’s pension pot, and an annual management charge of 0.3% on the total value of the member’s pension pot each year which is calculated on a daily basis and reflected in the unit price."
| Charge | Rate | Taken from |
|---|---|---|
| Contribution charge | 1.8% | each new contribution paid into the pot |
| Annual management charge | 0.3% | the total value of the pot, each year |
The same section says "The Scheme has the same charge for all members, no matter who their employer is, what their level of contributions is, or which retirement fund they invest in." The member page adds that this holds "whether a member is contributing or not".
So what you pay in pounds depends on two things the report names, your contributions and the value of your pot: the contribution charge follows what goes in, and the annual charge follows what the pot is worth. These are the rates as Nest's documents gave them on those dates.
Are Nest pension charges high?
"High" needs a yardstick. For the default fund of a scheme used for automatic enrolment, the law caps a charge taken only as a percentage of the pot at 0.75% a year (SI 2015/879, regulation 6(2)); pension charges and fees explains what that cap reaches and what it leaves out. Nest takes part of its charge from contributions, so 0.75% is not the like-for-like test.
The same regulations have a category for a charge built like Nest's. Regulation 5(3) calls it a "combination charge structure": a charge on "the value of the member's rights" together with one "calculated as a percentage of the value of contributions". For that structure, regulation 6 limits the contribution charge to "2.5% of the contributions allocated under the default arrangement" and sets a separate limit on the yearly pot charge, read from a table according to the contribution rate. Nest's 1.8% falls in the table's row "Higher than 1 but no higher than 2", where the figure given for the pot charge is 0.5, as a percentage a year. Nest's annual management charge is 0.3%.
Two members paying the same rates can still pay different proportions overall, because one charge bites on each payment and the other on the pot as it grows, and how much you pay in and for how long changes the mix. If you are weighing a Nest pot against a personal pension or older pensions, that sum runs across every pot you hold; an FCA-authorised adviser can lay it out pot by pot once you have described your pots in the form on this page.
How other workplace schemes set out their charges is in The People's Pension charges, NOW: Pensions charges and Smart Pension fees. Where Nest sits among master trusts is in workplace pension providers, and whether it suits you overall is the question in is Nest a good pension.
How you see what you are paying
The annual charge is "calculated on a daily basis and reflected in the unit price", in Nest Corporation's words, so it comes out through how the pot is valued rather than as a bill. Nest's member page says the money covers "the cost of administering members’ pension pots", "management fees for investing your money" and "transaction costs". Of those dealing costs it says "We don’t charge for these separately, but they’re factored into the overall investment returns you’ll receive." Your online account and yearly statement show what the pot is worth after all of this.
Nest pension charges: questions people ask
How much does Nest take from my pension?
Nest's member page gives its own example: "So if you paid £1,000 into your pot over the year, your contribution charge would be £18. If your pot was then worth £10,000, you’d pay an AMC of £30." Your own amounts come from the same two rates applied to what you pay in and what your pot is worth.
Who sets Nest's charges?
The report says the pricing structure "is set out by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions", the Board set the two rates, and the legal authority is the National Employment Savings Trust Order 2010. It also says the DWP's loan for setting up and running the scheme will be "repaid from charges levied on Scheme members", meaning the charges as a whole rather than either one.
Do employers pay to use Nest?
Nest Corporation says "There is no charge for employers to set up or use the Scheme", and none for a payroll provider or other intermediary acting for one. What an employer must pay in contributions is a separate matter, set out in workplace pension rules.
Does Nest charge to move a pension in or out?
Nest's member page says "You won’t pay a contribution charge on any transfers into Nest", though the 0.3% annual charge then applies to the whole pot, transferred money included. It says Nest does not charge for transferring out, and that it is worth checking the new provider's fees; what a move can cost elsewhere is in pension transfer fees.
Is there a Nest charges calculator?
For the long view, Nest's member page points to its costs and charges booklet, which shows "the combined effect of the annual management charge, contribution charge and transaction costs over the years". For a single year, the example in the first answer above shows how the two rates turn into pounds.
Your next step
A Nest account often sits alongside pensions from earlier jobs, each with its own charges and features, so combining pots or moving to a personal pension turns on the details of every one; how to transfer a pension and combining old pensions cover the steps, and choosing a personal pension the choice. Free, impartial guidance is available from Pension Wise once you are thinking of taking money out. If a Nest account and other pensions leave you unsure where you stand, an FCA-authorised adviser answers enquiries made on the form on this page, and making one costs you nothing.
Sources: Nest Corporation, annual report and accounts 2025 to 2026, published on GOV.UK in July 2026; Nest, Contributions and fees (member page, archived copy of 1 August 2026); legislation.gov.uk, SI 2015/879 regulations 5 and 6; all accessed 18 October 2026.