Nest continues to support members to greater financial stability and resilience in later life.

Nest has today published its 2021/22 annual report and accounts for Nest Corporation and the Nest pension scheme, which highlight the stable, high-quality pension it has delivered to customers through continued volatility at home and abroad.

Commenting on the reports, Helen Dean, Nest’s Chief Executive Officer, said:

"Despite a challenging external environment, this year we kept our focus on delivering a high-quality pension for our members while steadily improving our services. I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved.

"I continue to be impressed by the resilience, care, flexibility and commitment to excellent customer service demonstrated by the people of Nest Corporation, TCS and all our suppliers. They’re the ones that turn our strategic priorities into realities for our customers.

"We’re very well positioned to face the changes that lie ahead. We’ve shown, year after year, that we can be trusted to safeguard our members’ savings and data. Our people and our partners are determined to help our members secure better retirement outcomes. We put priority on stability of service and reliability of returns.

"Nest was set up by the government to help workers in the UK save more for retirement. Against the challenges of the past two years, the auto enrolment system has proved to be robust. We’re looking forward to continue making pensions and saving more accessible to everyone."

Brendan McCafferty, Chair of Nest Corporation, said:

“After two years of a global pandemic, people and businesses are facing a cost-of-living squeeze, and investment markets continue to be volatile. Our members can be assured that we stand alongside them in helping them to secure greater financial stability and resilience in later life.

“At Nest, we work hard to continually evaluate, challenge and improve our governance, with an eye to ensuring our practices are always in line with delivering value for members and our strategic priorities. As Nest continues to grow, we remain singularly focused on our members’ best interests, and delivering a pension they continue to have good reason to trust.

“I became Chair in February 2022 and I’ve been impressed by Nest’s consciousness, candour and progress around issues of diversity, equality and inclusion. There’s a real commitment to addressing these issues. Doing so helps us to develop solutions that meet the needs across the diversity of our membership.”

With nearly 99% of its 11.1 million members remaining in its default investment strategy, Nest is keenly aware of the importance of using its scale to deliver the advantages of world-class investment management and more consistent returns.

Despite a year of economic uncertainty driven by events such as the war in Ukraine and disruptions in the global supply chain, rising inflation and interest rates, Nest’s 2040 Nest Retirement Date Fund, which currently represents the growth phase of the default strategy, had annualised returns after charges of 9.2% over 10 years. Nest’s ambition is to weather any short-term market instability and deliver over the long term.

Information contained within the reports include (as of 31 March 2022):

• Nest was managing £24.4 billion on behalf of 11.1 million members and 975,000 employers. This is compared to £17.6 billion, 9.9 million members and 803,000 employers for the same time last year
• Each month on average Nest received £477 million in new contributions for its members’ pots this year
• Nest’s service channels were available 99% of the time, providing continuity of services to its members
• Nest’s customer satisfaction ratings saw 76% of the Scheme’s members and 71% of employers rating the service as good or excellent
• 98% of employers using Nest have fewer than 50 employees
• More than 7,700 new employers joined Nest, on average, each month
• As of 31 March 2022, Nest had £12.6 billion or 51.6% invested in its climate-aware equities strategies, up from £352 million or 12.6% invested in 2018. Nest’s climate-aware strategies help to manage climate-related risk by reducing investment in the biggest greenhouse gas and carbon emitters and investing more in green technology like solar and wind farms

Ends.