Pension advice cost varies by firm: MoneyHelper's fee guide (January 2026 copy) gives £75 to £350 an hour for financial advice, or a set or monthly fee.
There is no single price list for pension advice, so this page sets out how a regulated adviser's fee is built, what the rules make the firm tell you, and the ways some people get help paying. Free, impartial guidance costs nothing: Pension Wise is the government-backed service from MoneyHelper. To hear what an FCA-authorised adviser would charge for your own case, use the form on this page, then make the fee your first question.
Advice is a paid service (the FCA's pension scams page says professional advice on pensions is not free), and for most decisions it is a choice rather than a requirement: MoneyHelper says advice is optional for most things and can be costly, so you need to weigh up whether it is right for you (MoneyHelper, How to find a pension or retirement adviser, archived copy of 14 August 2026). What counts as advice is in our guide to pension advice, whether the fee repays itself in are pension advisers worth it?, and the free routes in free pension help.
How do pension advisers charge?
The figures below are MoneyHelper's, from its Financial adviser fees guide as archived on 1 January 2026. They cover financial advice generally, not pension advice alone, and they are a range to check quotes against, not a price you will be charged. The guide says the amount "will depend on a number of things, including your specific needs, the type of advice you need and the firm you decide to hire", and lists the ways a firm may charge:
- An hourly rate. "this will vary from £75 an hour to £350, although the UK average rate is about £150 an hour."
- A set fee for a piece of work. "this might be several hundred or several thousand pounds", dictated "largely by the complexity of the work and the time it takes".
- A monthly fee. "this might be a flat fee or a percentage of the money you want to invest."
- An ongoing fee. "an adviser can only charge you an ongoing fee in return for providing an ongoing service, unless you’re paying off an initial charge over time through a regular payment product."
Set-up fees, ongoing fees and a mix of both
The guide adds: "Advisers will often use more than one type of charge. For example, there might be a fixed set-up fee and then an ongoing charge based on percentage of assets." It also suggests finding out "whether you can choose different ways of paying for different services", such as an hourly rate for pension advice and a percentage for investments.
The advice fee is not the whole bill: the guide points out that "the advice fees won't include the cost of the underlying investments", and many firms use investment platforms, "the costs of which are sometimes passed onto the customer". Product costs are covered in our guide to pension charges.
What makes one quote higher than another?
The guide lists where the firm is based; how the service is delivered (advice "by phone or even online" can mean the cost "is typically cheaper as they have lower overheads"); who does the work, since some firms use "support staff to do some of the work (signed off by an adviser)"; how well qualified the adviser is ("the more qualifications and experience an adviser has, the higher their fees might be"); and "how complex your situation is".
What do the FCA's rules say about adviser charges?
Advisers are not free to charge however they like, and the rules are written to make the cost visible before you agree. Three points matter to a reader.
No commission on pension advice. Advisers cannot be paid a commission if they give you advice about pensions, investments or retirement income products such as annuities, and must instead charge you a fee for the advice. The FCA rule behind this is COBS 6.1A, which applies to personal recommendations on retail investment products and on pension transfers, conversions and opt-outs; the Handbook glossary's list of retail investment products includes "a personal pension scheme" and "a life policy", a class that takes in annuities. An advising firm may "only be remunerated for the personal recommendation" (and related services) through adviser charges (FCA Handbook, COBS 6.1A, last updated 6 April 2026). Annuity fees follows the same rule through to annuity purchases.
The charging structure comes first, in writing. COBS 6.1A.17R says "A firm must disclose its charging structure to a retail client in writing, in good time before making" the recommendation. MoneyHelper puts the same idea in plain terms: your adviser must give you a copy of their charging structure before providing any services to you, though that "won’t tell you exactly how much you can expect to pay", so ask for the cost of your own job or an estimate.
The total is agreed and disclosed. Under COBS 6.1A.24R, "A firm must agree with and disclose to a retail client the total adviser charge payable to it or any of its associates". Where the charge is for an ongoing service, COBS 6.1A.22R requires that the client has "a right to cancel the ongoing service, which must be reasonable in all the circumstances, without penalty". The rule's other limb covers a charge spread over regular payments where the firm has disclosed that no ongoing service will be provided, the "paying off an initial charge over time" case in MoneyHelper's wording above. The right to cancel is written into the first limb, not the second.
On top of this, MoneyHelper says you must be told how much the advice will cost before you commit, covering how the charges work, how much you will pay and whether there are any ongoing costs, and that you should "also be sent a written report explaining your recommendations in detail, why the advice is right for you and the costs".
Can you get help paying for pension advice?
Some help is tied to the pension and tax system itself. Each route depends on your scheme or your employer, so treat them as questions to ask.
Can I pay for pension advice out of my pension pot?
HMRC's Pensions Tax Manual describes two routes. The first is the pension advice allowance: from 6 April 2017, a registered pension scheme "may make one payment of pension advice allowance in respect of that person in a tax year. The maximum amount of each payment is £500, and it must be paid from a money purchase arrangement or a hybrid arrangement directly to the financial advisor providing the advice." The advice must be "regulated financial advice", and "Only one payment in respect of a person may be made in a tax year, and only three in the person’s lifetime". The member pays no income tax on it (HMRC, PTM142000, page updated 14 August 2024). MoneyHelper's fee guide adds: "Check that your pension provider will let you use the allowance though, as not all of them do." The detail is in the pension advice allowance.
The second is a scheme paying an adviser's charge for pension advice, which HMRC's manual says is not an unauthorised member payment "provided the payment is made as a result of: genuinely commercial remuneration arrangements between the member and financial adviser", for an amount "appropriate in relation to the service the adviser provided"; advice about ISAs or other money outside the scheme is not covered (HMRC, PTM143200, page last updated 14 December 2018). That is the tax rule; whether your scheme will pay an adviser is for the scheme to say.
Advice arranged by your employer
This is a different thing from the pension advice allowance. HMRC says: "From 6 April 2017, Section 308C ITEPA 2003 introduced a statutory exemption of £500 in a tax year for relevant pensions advice provided to employees." If an employer provides the advice or "pays or reimburses the costs of pensions advice incurred by the employee", the cost "is exempt from Income Tax up to £500 in a tax year", provided one of two availability conditions is met, for example that the scheme is open to "all of an employer’s employees generally" (HMRC, Employment Income Manual EIM21803, page updated 1 June 2026). It is a tax exemption for the employee, not a payment out of the pension. MoneyHelper also notes that some employers offer access to advice "as part of their employee benefits packages, sometimes at a reduced cost". Whether your employer does is a question for them.
If cost is what holds you back, the price of one defined piece of work, and whether the allowance or an employer scheme could meet part of it, makes a sensible opening question. An FCA-authorised adviser can answer both once you have sent the enquiry form on this page, which costs nothing.
What should you check before agreeing to a fee?
Nothing here recommends paying for advice or any particular firm. These are checks worth making.
- Is the firm authorised? The FCA's advice is to use only an adviser it has authorised, and to turn down advice from any company that approached you. See finding a pension adviser.
- How exactly is the fee worked out? Ask whether it is hourly, fixed or a percentage, whether there is a set-up fee plus an ongoing one, and whether the quote covers the whole job. MoneyHelper's view is that quotes from several advisers or firms are always the best approach.
- Is there an ongoing fee, and what is the service? An ongoing fee is charged in return for an ongoing service (the instalment case aside), and COBS 6.1A.22R gives a right to cancel that service without penalty.
- Is the advice fee separate from product and platform costs? It usually is, as above; pension charges explains the product side.
If a defined benefit pension is involved
Where safeguarded benefits, such as a final salary pension, have a transfer value above £30,000, the scheme has to check that the member has taken appropriate independent advice before a transfer to flexible benefits (SI 2015/742, regulation 5(1)), so that advice fee is part of the decision. The steps are in how to transfer a pension, the legal requirement in when advice is required before a transfer, and the costs in pension transfer fees.
Pension advice costs: questions people ask
Is the first meeting with a pension adviser free?
Often. MoneyHelper says many financial advisers offer an initial meeting free of charge, but "This isn’t designed to give you specific advice about your situation": it is a chance to see how the firm works and what it charges, and the quote should then come in writing.
Does independent pension advice cost more?
It can differ. MoneyHelper says to "ask if the adviser is independent or restricted" and that an adviser's status "might have some impact on the amount they charge". Compare written quotes for the same job.
How much does a pension review cost?
A regulated adviser must tell you the cost before you commit, so ask what a review covers and what it costs. Treat the word "free" with care here: the FCA treats an unsolicited offer to review your pension for free as likely to be a scam (see pension scams).
Does pension tax advice cost extra, and how do I find a pension tax adviser?
A regulated financial adviser can help with explaining your options for cutting the tax you might have to pay, so tax planning can be part of the pension advice you pay for rather than a separate service. Ask the firm whether its quote includes it, and check it is authorised; finding a pension adviser covers the search.
Your next step
Your own figure depends on your pots and what you want help with, so it comes from a firm's written quote rather than a table. Wanting a written figure for your case? Through the form on this page, that request goes to an FCA-authorised adviser, who must tell you the cost before you commit. Going ahead is then your choice, and Pension Wise stays free alongside.