Royal London pensions: what they are and the types offered

Royal London pension plans: Pension Portfolio, a personal pension sold through advisers, and three workplace schemes that employers set up.

Royal London is a mutual insurer, owned by its customers rather than by shareholders, and which of its pensions you hold depends on who brought you to it: a financial adviser or an employer. What follows is what Royal London's own pages and guides say about each plan, read on 20 October 2026. Pension Wise gives free, impartial, government-backed guidance on taking money out. An FCA-authorised adviser can also go through a Royal London plan with you by phone: request that call using this page's form, free of charge.

Pension Portfolio: the personal pension, sold through advisers

Pension Portfolio is the name Royal London gives its personal pension. It says it has chosen to sell its personal pension products through financial advisers, and its transfers page says a Royal London personal pension is opened by speaking with one. Advisers may charge for that, with fees agreed upfront. What the plan costs is on Royal London pension charges, and how a personal pension works in general is in what a personal pension plan is.

Most of the plan detail sits in Royal London's Pension Portfolio technical guide (print code 65G2034/28, April 2026), which is marked for financial adviser use only and not to be relied on by anyone else, so a plan holder's own documents come first. In that adviser guide, the investment arrangement within Pension Portfolio "is an insurance policy provided by Royal London Mutual Insurance Society". It can hold funds from Royal London Asset Management, a selection from other investment companies, and a Governed Range that "consists of our Governed Portfolios – risk-graded investment portfolios – and our Target and Flexible Lifestyle Strategies". Switching between them is covered in changing your Royal London pension fund.

Paying in is flexible: within certain limits, clients can "contribute as much or as little as they like, whenever they like". Where an employer also wants to pay in regularly alongside the plan holder, two separate plans are needed, and payments can continue after money starts coming out, subject to limits. Investments can fall as well as rise, so a plan can end up worth less than was paid in.

Older pensions can be brought across. Royal London's transfers page says most customers can ask for a transfer online, with the plan numbers of the old pensions and of the Royal London plan; the government's free Pension Tracing Service helps find a lost one. It asks people to check an old plan first for features that a transfer could lose, such as a Guaranteed Annuity Rate, loyalty bonuses or protected tax-free cash, and warns that combining pensions "doesn't mean you'll necessarily get a higher income or bigger pension pot". Transfers between pension plans get no tax relief, according to the Income Release guide.

Money already in drawdown elsewhere, a transfer in drawdown, can come into a Pension Portfolio with Income Release on the adviser guide's terms: each one needs its own plan and can take no further contributions, and a £11,250 minimum applies, averaged per plan where several are set up. The steps are in how to transfer a pension, and the costs in pension transfer fees.

GPP, SHR or CMP: the workplace schemes

Royal London runs three types of workplace pension, and an employer can tell a member which one applies. A Group Personal Pension (GPP) is a set of individual plans that an employer arranges. A Group Stakeholder Pension (SHR) is close to a GPP, but "different rules apply". A Company Pension Plan (CMP), which may also be called an occupational pension scheme, is run by trustees on the employer's behalf.

Most members join through automatic enrolment, explained in the auto-enrolment rules. Royal London's workplace page gives the usual age for taking money out as 55, rising to 57 in 2028. A worker can hold workplace and personal pensions with several providers at once, and the limits on what can be paid in with tax relief apply across all of them together; see pension tax relief. Whether an employee has any say over the provider is covered in workplace pension providers.

Income Release, an annuity, or another provider

Royal London calls its drawdown option Income Release. The adviser guide puts the earliest start at 55, or 57 from 6 April 2028, and says a client "must normally have a minimum of £15,000" in the plan to use it from the outset, or £10,000 in an existing plan; there is no minimum amount that has to be withdrawn. The with-profits fund is excluded from its investment options. In the customer guide to Income Release (print code 65B11/26, January 2026), the plan is split into a Savings Account and an Income Release Account, and money cannot move back once it is in the Income Release Account.

Drawdown income is not fixed: the customer guide warns that "both the value of your plan and any payments you take from it could reduce in the future". A guaranteed income for life means buying an annuity, and here Royal London's retirement options guide (print code BRPP10001/8, September 2025) is direct: "Just because you've saved with Royal London, doesn't mean you need to buy a pension income from us." It makes the same point about shopping around before using flexible access. The routes are compared in your defined contribution options at retirement, with detail in pension drawdown and pension annuities.

A mutual insurer, and what ProfitShare is

Royal London describes itself as customer owned with no shareholders, the model usually called a mutual, and says members can have a say in how it is run through its Annual General Meeting. ProfitShare is how it passes some of its profit to customers: when it does well, it aims to add a share to eligible pension and stocks and shares ISA plans each year. It says it cannot guarantee an award every year. When its ProfitShare page was read on 20 October 2026, it put the April 2026 award at £199 million across approximately 2.4 million eligible customers.

Crest Secure and Retirement Account contracts, self-invested savings and plans set up with The Co-operative Insurance Society do not qualify. Eligibility dates and how awards are applied are on the charges page.

Royal London pension plans: questions people ask

Does Royal London offer a SIPP?

Royal London's ProfitShare page excludes "self-invested retirement savings" and its Income Release guide mentions plan holders who have opted to self invest, but neither sets out a SIPP product or its terms. Whether one is open to you is a question for Royal London, or for the adviser who rings back, free, once you send the enquiry form; the SIPP guide explains how SIPPs work in general.

Does a ProfitShare award count towards my annual allowance?

Royal London's adviser guide says awards do not count as a contribution, so they do not affect the annual allowance. Awards themselves are not guaranteed. The allowance is explained in the pension annual allowance.

Does Royal London run a final salary pension?

Its workplace page describes defined benefit (final salary) pensions only in general terms, as more common in the past than today, when most workplace pensions are defined contribution. Whether a particular scheme promises a salary-based pension is a question for the employer or the trustees; the final salary pension guide explains what that promise means.

How do I leave a Royal London workplace pension?

Royal London says a member can opt out during a one-month window after being automatically enrolled, and any contributions taken in that period are refunded. Leaving after the window is still possible, but contributions already made stay invested.

Your next step

Which Royal London plan you hold, and how it sits beside your other pensions, comes down to your own paperwork. For an FCA-authorised adviser's view of your plan next to everything else you hold, fill in this page's short form and expect a call back; there is no fee.

Sources, read 20 October 2026: Royal London pages on personal pensions, workplace pensions, pension transfers, ProfitShare and mutuality; Pension Portfolio adviser guide (65G2034/28, April 2026); Income Release guide (65B11/26, January 2026); retirement options guide (BRPP10001/8, September 2025). Royal London's terms can change.