A pension service, on your side.

Why this exists

Regulated financial advice is genuinely valuable — I know, it's my day job. But it's also priced for people who need the whole thing: full planning, ongoing management, the works. Which means a huge number of pension questions never get properly answered, because paying an adviser to answer them would cost more than the answer is worth.

Pension Helper is the middle door. Ask us your question, and within a working day we'll come back with the honest answer: a free page on gov.uk, a section in one of our guides, a fixed-fee piece of guidance we can do for you, or an introduction to a regulated adviser if that's what your situation genuinely needs.

If we can't help — because you're already sorted, or because your question isn't really a pension question — we'll tell you that too. Nobody's on commission here.

Who runs it

I'm Paul Bartlett, DipPFS. I've spent over twenty years in UK financial advice, including in FCA-regulated planning work. I run Pension Helper alongside that experience because I've had the same conversations enough times to know what a large slice of the public actually needs — and it isn't always a full-fat advice relationship.

Every question that comes in is read by me personally. Not a chatbot, not a call centre. Just me, reading your question and giving you the straight answer.

How Pension Helper fits with regulated advice

Two separate things, one honest philosophy. Pension Helper is an unregulated guidance service — factual analysis, plain-English reports, quotes for one-off pieces of work. It sits outside the FCA perimeter because it doesn't make personal recommendations about which products to buy or transfer.

My existing financial planning firm is fully FCA-regulated, and offers personal financial advice, product recommendations and ongoing planning relationships for people whose situation genuinely needs that.

If you're a Pension Helper client and I think your position would benefit from full regulated advice, I'll say so, honestly — and put you in touch with an adviser who can help.

What it costs

Nothing to ask. Every question gets read and answered for free. If we can point you to free resources, that's the whole interaction.

From £99 for a piece of Pension Helper guidance, quoted per case. Fixed fees, paid 50% up front and 50% on delivery, so you always know what it costs before we start.

Priced separately for regulated advice work, which I'll quote if that turns out to be the right route.