The SIPP marketplace is a healthy and buoyant one featuring 114 retail SIPP products from 80 providers.
Looking across the recommendations made through Defaqto Engage, the due diligence and research solution used by over 8,500 advisers, some interesting patterns emerge.
The Aviva Pension Portfolio tops the table, a position that it exchanged with the abrdn Wrap SIPP throughout the year. For popularity, these two schemes are in close competition.
The difference between the third placed Quilter Collective Retirement Account, and the fifth placed Aegon Retirement Choices SIPP is only 2%.
With the AJ Bell Investcentre SIPP sitting in fourth place and its Retirement Investment Account in sixth, the provider has a combined market share of 17.8% of the market. This puts AJ Bell Investcentre in third spot overall in the list of providers.
Other observations from the top 10 SIPPs:
- There are no small or niche providers in the top ten.
- A wide range of investment options are required. All top ten products facilitate model portfolios in some way, and provide access to ETFs, ethical funds, ESG funds and passive funds. Nine out of ten also facilitate access to DFMs, and individuals shares.
- SIPPs are generally not being taken out to facilitate investment in real commercial property as none of the top 10 offer this service. For clarity, when we look across all SIPPs 27% facilitate this asset class.
- Target markets are almost identical. All top ten products are a good match if you advise retail clients on capital growth and income where they have at least a basic knowledge, an ability to bear loss without guarantees, and at least a five-year time horizon. In other words, most clients in decumulation (illustrated opposite).
Cost overview
Looking at cost and service, which are critical elements of consumer duty fair value assessments, we see some interesting facts emerge. The most popular SIPPs are not the cheapest. The value invested can make a huge difference.
Opposite we have ranked the same top ten based on someone investing £100,000 and £250,000.
Defaqto Service Rating
Defaqto Service Ratings are impartially compiled annually through feedback from hundreds of advisers and paraplanners on their experiences and preferences.
While the top ten may imply that holding a Service Rating is normal, the reality is that 65% of personal pension providers have not achieved either a Gold or Silver Rating in 2025.
This is important because with the consumer duty fair value assessments bringing service into sharper focus we now see it feature in most due diligence assessments undertaken through Engage. This means offering a good service is required both for maintaining existing clients and attracting new ones.
Summary
With no shortage of options, the SIPP market has a solution for most advised clients. The top ten are catering for the mass market by facilitating the target market and investment options that most advice firms require to deliver their propositions.
When undertaking consumer duty fair value assessments, the two key areas where we see quantifiable differences are price and service. These are also areas where Engage users have comparable impartial facts at their fingertips in far more detail than an overall rating can express. Ultimately, this means providers wishing to maintain market share cannot afford to drop their standards in any aspect of their proposition.
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