New business administration ranks highest in importance
Followed jointly by Administration staff and Existing business administration.
Defaqto undertakes an annual satisfaction survey among financial advisers to establish the service levels of providers of wealth and protection products. This paper sets out the results for the pensions market in 2026.
The findings are based on adviser feedback and form the basis of the Defaqto Service Ratings awarded from 1 February 2026, providing a structured, adviser-led benchmark of service standards across pensions providers
Satisfaction levels range from 76% to 86% across disciplines
New business administration achieved the highest satisfaction level at 86%, while Online facilities and Decumulation servicing recorded 76%.
Performance varies across operational and decumulation services
Highest scoring providers differ across administration, reporting, online facilities and decumulation servicing when results are weighted by adviser-ranked importance.
Parmenion ranked first overall for pensions service in 2026
Based on total above average scores weighted by the importance attributed to each service discipline.
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The analysis assessed performance across six key pensions service disciplines, combining satisfaction scoring with adviser-ranked importance to determine overall Service Ratings.
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Advisers were asked to nominate providers they had placed business with in the previous 12 months and to rank them in order of preference where more than one provider was selected.
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Satisfaction was scored using a 1 to 5 scale, where 5 represents very satisfied and 1 represents very dissatisfied.
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Defaqto calculates a satisfaction index for each provider by assessing the proportion of above average scores and weighting the result according to the importance advisers assign to each discipline. The Service Rating is based on these indexes, with 70% of the average importance ordinarily being the Gold benchmark.
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When weighted by importance, highest scoring providers differ by discipline. Quilter achieved the highest weighted score for Administration staff and New business, while Parmenion led across Existing business, Online facilities and Decumulation servicing.
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Based on total above average scores across all service disciplines, Parmenion ranked first overall for pensions service in 2026.
Read the full report