Investment pathways
Good
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing
Excellent
Accessing your pension
Good
Member engagement and communication
Good
Member service and administration
Excellent
Investment choice and performance
Good
Default funds and their investment performance
Cost and charges
Excellent
Investment pathways
Our value rating: Good
Are the right investment choices available once you’ve started to take a flexible income?
The investment options are fit for purpose and provide value for money. L&G continues to monitor how those of you in drawdown (accessing your pension) use your pot to check that it matches the aims of the investment pathways that you are invested in.
L&G have now completed a full review of the funds that each pathway is invested in. Over the year, L&G have made improvements to how two of the investment pathways are invested. Pathway 2 (Annuity) is now better designed to help protect you against changes in annuity prices. Pathway 4 (Taking all your money within 5 years) now aims to give a better balance between risk and return.
We have asked L&G to keep us updated on its plans to make further changes to the Investments Pathways. For Workplace Pathway 2 (annuity), these additional changes are intended to better support investors who may want to buy an annuity. For Workplace Pathway 4 (taking all my money within five years), the changes will make use of a new fund designed for those who expect to keep their money in drawdown for the short term before taking it as cash.
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Environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing
Our value rating: Excellent
Is your pension invested responsibly? ESG (environmental, social and governance) issues are directly linked to your pension through the assets your pension pot is invested in, such as equities which are shares in companies.
L&G continues to be a leader in the industry in this area. Independent experts consistently rate its approach as either the strongest or above average compared to other pension providers. It has engaged with thousands of companies and strengthened its Climate Impact Pledge, which holds major businesses to account on climate action.
Most members have now moved from the Multi-Asset Fund (MAF) into one of the new default funds (the Lifetime Advantage Funds or the Target Date Funds). This range of funds has investment exposure to companies who contribute positively to ESG considerations. This shift helps to enhance your exposure to more sustainably managed assets.
We’ve reviewed L&G’s ESG policies and believe they are of good quality.
We have continued to challenge L&G on its exclusion thresholds for companies where 20% or more of their revenue comes from thermal coal or oil sands extraction or thermal coal power generation.
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Accessing your pension
Our value rating: Good
What choices are available when you come to take your money? Are there tools and support in place to help you make informed decisions?
You can access the full range of retirement options, and you have flexibility in how and when you choose to take your money. There are good tools and information to help you, including a Guided Retirement Planner and tax calculator.
Since last year, L&G has made various improvements to its income drawdown services. You can now request a drawdown quote online, which helps speed up how long it takes you to access your money. You are now also able to manage your pension pot via the new L&G app.
L&G received a good score when we compared the options you have with other providers.
We have continued to engage with L&G to review the £2,000 minimum limit for taking a partial cash lump sum outside of the flexible income drawdown process and press them to consider whether this minimum limit remains appropriate. Read more >
Member engagement and communication
Our value rating: Good
Do you receive clear, high-quality communications? Are there tools available to help with your retirement planning?
L&G have continued to ensure that communications are clear, accurate and tailored to your needs. Since L&G launched the new app last year, it has added new tools and services to help you get the best experience. For example, L&G has now added the option to connect your bank account with your pension pot through Open Banking.
L&G has also refined day-to-day communications so that they are more specific to information about you and your pension. L&G has also continued to prioritise accessibility and inclusivity in all communications. In 2025, L&G launched its first non-English translations of some of its core communications to help support members where English isn’t their first language.
We have asked L&G to continue to focus on increasing the number of members with a beneficiary nomination. Read more >
Member service and administration
Our value rating: Excellent
Is your pension well run, and do you receive good service?
The L&G team maintained and improved on the service levels that were delivered in 2024. In 2025, the team met their service levels in 99.9% of cases, up from 98%. Following our 2024 target to improve the income drawdown services that L&G offer members, the drawdown processing times have since improved by 33% this year.
L&G has also extended its online capabilities, which help you to generate online drawdown quotes. We are pleased to confirm that L&G are on track to deliver a full online quote, apply and pay service by mid-2026. After carrying out a detailed review of L&G’s vulnerable members processes, we have challenged L&G to continue to review how it identifies members in vulnerable circumstances and to consider a broader range of potential indicators.
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Investment choice and performance
Our value rating: Good
Is there a good range of funds if you want to make your own choice? How well do these funds perform? This section does not include the default funds.
While we don’t actively encourage you to switch out of the default fund – which is designed to suit most members – we recognise that you may want to take a more active role in managing your pension pot. That is why L&G offers a range of self-select funds for you to choose from.
In 2025, L&G completed a full review of the self-select fund range to ensure that it is still meeting your investment needs. Following the review, we have concluded that almost all of the funds are either meeting or exceeding their performance objectives.
To further improve the self-select fund range, we have also recommended changes to L&G which will simplify the fund range further. Read more >
Default funds and their
investment performance
Our value rating: Good
Are the default funds appropriate for you to invest in, and how well do they perform? If you haven’t chosen your own funds, you’ll be in a default fund.
This year, the IGC has improved the rating for the default funds and their investment performance. The previous value rating was ‘Acceptable, with areas for improvement’, and the IGC has now changed the rating to ‘Good’.
In 2024 L&G, with our support, began to move pension pots into a range of new default funds - the Target Date Funds (TDFs) and the Lifetime Advantage Funds (LAFs). We believe that the move to the LAFs and TDFs is a positive step and have the potential to produce better growth for your pension pot over the long term.
Most members are now invested in one of these new default funds. We have a plan in place to move those of you remaining in the old default funds in 2026.
As part of the IGC’s assessment, we identified that the retirement stage TDF delivered a lower return than its peer median over five years. We recognise that L&G is changing the investment mix used by TDFs for members approaching retirement. We note that these changes are intended to strengthen long-term growth while maintaining an appropriate level of protection for members who may soon begin taking their pension savings. Read more >
Costs and charges
Our value rating: Excellent
Are the costs and charges for your pension competitive and do they offer good value for money?
The costs and charges you pay are competitive and this is backed up by independent research that compares them to other providers.
The Government sets a limit on the charges that can apply to most workplace pension schemes. The IGC checks that all charges are the same as, or below, these limits where they apply.
We review and challenge these costs and have continued to conclude that you receive good value for money in relation to these costs.
By the end of 2025, most members had switched to one of the new default investment funds, the Target Date Funds (TDFs) and the Lifetime Advantage Funds (LAFs). The new default funds generally have higher investment management charges than the previous default, typically 0.15% more. The increase is expected to be offset by improved long-term investment growth. Read more >
Summary of our assessments for 2025
Select each assessment to find out more
Good