About NEST
NEST (National Employment Savings Trust) is a UK workplace pension scheme established to help employers meet their auto-enrolment pension duties and to provide a simple, low-cost, defined-contribution pension for employees. It is a master trust pension scheme widely used across the UK, backed by government initiative to ensure eligible workers are saving into a pension.
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Key Features & Benefits
Zero Employer Costs
NEST charges employers literally nothing to set up or run the scheme. No monthly fees, no per-employee charges, no setup costs, no hidden "admin fees." It's genuinely free.
For micro and small businesses, pension provider fees can genuinely impact cash flow. Spending £20-50 monthly on pension administration might seem trivial to larger companies, but for a three-person business turning over £100k annually, every recurring cost matters.
Private Markets Investment Access
NEST has been a pioneer in giving ordinary pension savers access to private markets – infrastructure, private equity, private debt – previously only available to institutional investors.
Private markets historically deliver higher returns than public markets, but they're illiquid and complex to access. By building these into default funds, NEST members benefit from institutional-quality diversification.
Retirement Date Funds with Glidepath
NEST's default approach automatically places members in funds based on their state pension age (e.g., NEST 2040 Fund, NEST 2050 Fund). These use a "lifecycle" or "glidepath" strategy – starting with higher-growth investments when retirement is distant, then gradually shifting to lower-risk assets as the target date approaches.
Around 95% of auto-enrolled employees never change from their default fund, making the default choice critical. NEST's glidepath approach is genuinely intelligent – a 25-year-old automatically gets growth-focused investments while a 60-year-old gets capital preservation. Employees benefit from sophisticated investment strategy without needing to understand anything.
Implementation & Support
Setup Process
- Registration
- Employer setup
- Employee enrollment
- Total time to compliance
Technical Requirements
- Internet connection and web browser
- Payroll software (or ability to create CSV files manually)
- Employee data (names, addresses, NI numbers, earnings)
- Company bank details for contribution payments
Support Options
- Online help centre
- Phone support
- Web chat
- Email support
- Employer guides and toolkits