CAPAdata has been authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority as a benchmark administrator, with the Corporate Adviser Pensions Average (CAPA) now included on the FCA’s official benchmark register.
The authorisation marks a significant milestone for CAPAdata, which has tracked the investment performance of the UK’s largest workplace pension default funds for the past eight years.
CAPA provides an independent comparison of investment outcomes across defined contribution pension providers, which collectively manage over 98 per cent of the multi-employer DC sector. It tracks providers biggest default by number of active members. The CAPA average has been cited in numerous consultations on workplace pensions, particularly in relation to the new Value for Money Framework for DC schemes.
The benchmark enables pension providers, advisers, trustees, consultants, employers and savers to compare performance on a consistent basis across different stages of a member’s savings journey.
The importance of these comparisons is demonstrated by significant differences in member outcomes between workplace pension defaults.
CAPAdata analysis shows that a growth-phase (younger) saver investing £10,000 over the five years from Q1 2021 to Q1 2026 would have seen their pot grow to £18,026 in the best-performing default fund, compared with £12,573 in the worst-performing fund, before charges are deducted. The gross investment growth achieved by the best performer was more than three times that of the lowest performer.
Over 10 years the dispersion of investment outcomes is even greater. CAPAdata figures to the end of 2025 show a 144 percentage point difference in returns between the best and worst providers, for growth phase savers. The highest return delivered was 232 per cent, before charges are deducted, compared to an 88 per cent return for the lowest. The CAPA average was 139 per cent. Big gulfs in performance also exist for savers 5 years from state pension age and 1 day from state pension age, the CAPAdata data set shows.
CAPAdata tracks investment performance at different points in the glidepath, alongside asset allocation, ESG characteristics and other aspects of workplace pension propositions.
The FCA authorisation comes as scrutiny of value for money in workplace pensions continues to increase. Investment performance, including risk-adjusted returns, is expected to play a central role in future assessments of whether schemes are delivering good outcomes for members.
Samantha Seaton, CEO of CAPAdata, said: ‘This authorisation is a real milestone for CAPA, but the prize is what it enables: a robust, independent view of how workplace default funds are actually performing, at the points in a member’s journey that matter most.
‘I want to recognise the providers who have submitted their data over the past eight years – and in return, they now have a genuinely independent, regulated benchmark against which to assess their own performance, which I know matters as much to them as it does to the members they ultimately serve.
‘This achievement belongs to everyone who believes better data means better decisions – and, ultimately, better retirement outcomes.’
Andrew Cheseldine, chair of the CAPAdata oversight committee, said: ‘I am excited to join the Governance Committee of CAPAdata on its introduction as an FCA regulated benchmark. I have watched it grow over the last 8 years from a germ of an idea in John Greenwood’s head to a highly regarded and widely used data resource.
‘Given the focus on scheme data for VfM and regulatory purposes, it is important that our governance framework is robust and transparent – I look forward to working with the rest of the committee to ensure that continues in the future.’
John Greenwood, director of CAPAdata, said: ‘Risk-adjusted performance will be one of the biggest, if not the biggest determinant of retirement outcome for millions of UK workers. A robust benchmark that the industry can rely on will enable stakeholders of all sorts to compare, contrast, analyse and hopefully improve their investment decision-making.’
