The People’s Pension now has £30bn of assets under management. The master trust says it expects to reach the £50bn mark within the next five years — putting it in the top 100 asset owners worldwide.
Releasing this data, the People’s Partnership, which offers this master trust, says it now provides the workplace pension for more than 100,000 employers, and runs the pensions of more than to 6.5m members.
Like many other auto enrolment providers The People’s Pension has seen rapid growth in recent years, having launched just 12 years ago. In 2018 it had just £5bn AUM. The People’s Pension says it is now processing over £4bn a year in contributions.
According to data from Corporate Adviser’s most recent Master Trust and GPP report, The People’s Pension was the fourth largest workplace pension provider ) — in terms of number of active members. It had 1.8m members. Nest, the largest provider on this metric had 4.8m active members. This is based figures reported to the end of 2023.
Both Nest and The People’s Pension have significant numbers of deferred members, with The People’s Pension reporting 4.7m in last year’s report.
People’s Partnership chief executive officer Patrick Heath-Lay says: “This is a very significant moment for us, and we are on a path to becoming a £100bn fund, which would make us one of the biggest in the world.
“Becoming a major asset owner will enable us to invest in a wider range of asset classes with the aim of generating higher returns and even more value for money for our members. It will also mean that we can have more of a positive influence on environmental and social standards companies need to meet to be invested in our portfolio.
“As a business without shareholders, our increasing scale gives us the ability to deliver exceptional value directly back to members. Our success going forward will be built on ensuring that we continue to do the right things for our members.”
Mark Condron, chair of The People’s Pension trustee, adds: “To reach £30 billion assets under management just 12 years after the launch of The People’s Pension is hugely significant. Our growing scale allows us to deliver greater value through improved portfolio diversification, reduced risk, and enhanced returns.”