UK SIPP Boom: Why 6M Britons Are Taking Charge and What It Means for Your Future Pensions

The surge in the UK’s self-invested pension (SIPP) market to more than 6 million investors and £650 billion in assets isn’t just a financial milestone; it’s a cultural one. 

It marks a quiet revolution in how Britons are choosing to take control of their financial futures. And it’s precisely the sort of shift that validates and amplifies the mission of the Great Investments Programme (GIP) and Campaign for a Million.

The Rise of UK SIPP Market and Pension Challenges.pdf

Download PDF • 1.93MB

Why Traditional Workplace Pensions Are Failing Savers

For years, the UK’s pension industry has behaved like a reluctant babysitter: cautious, over-bureaucratic, and obsessed with protection over performance. 

The average workplace pension pot barely keeps pace with inflation, and the default funds many Britons sleepwalk into are often stuck in low-yield, one-size-fits-all portfolios. The result? Millions of savers unknowingly compounding mediocrity.

The SIPP Boom Challenges Pension Complacency

The latest SIPP figures, revealed by MoretoSIPPs and reported in IFA Magazine, show that this complacency is finally being challenged.

The Rise of the Self-Directed Investor: 70% of SIPPs Are Now Non-Advised

Over 70% of SIPPs are now non-advised, meaning that investors are choosing to manage their own wealth rather than hand it to traditional intermediaries.

That’s not recklessness - it’s rational rebellion. It’s proof that individuals are waking up to the idea that control, education, and evidence-based investing deliver better long-term results than blind trust in a salesman’s model portfolio.

How the Great Investments Programme Supports Smarter Investing

This is the very foundation on which GIP was built. The programme was never designed for day-traders or gamblers; it was created for exactly this new class of informed, self-directed investors who want professional-grade analysis without the bureaucracy and opacity of the old guard.

As the SIPP market expands, so does the audience that instinctively understands what GIP stands for - academic rigour, transparency, and independence.

Campaign for a Million: Turning Investors Into Educated Wealth Builders

For the Campaign for a Million, this trend is equally powerful. Its mission; to educate one million people on compounding and smarter investing; now has a receptive audience of millions already taking their first steps toward autonomy.

These investors aren’t waiting for a pension fund to "beat the benchmark"; they’re asking how to build sustainable wealth on their own terms. They want guidance, not guardianship. Education, not excuses. 

That’s where the campaign’s courses, calculators, and tools fit perfectly into the national conversation.

Financial Literacy Is Becoming the New Financial Independence

Politically, too, this movement matters. In a year where talk of taxing pensioners has caused uproar, the fact that Britons are voting with their wallets – shifting assets into flexible, self-directed vehicles – is a signal to policymakers that financial literacy is the new financial independence. 

The old paternalistic pension model, designed for an era of cradle-to-grave employment, simply doesn’t fit the modern gig-economy reality.

GIP and the Campaign for a Million both champion the idea that freedom requires competence – and that investors can handle responsibility when given the right knowledge.

SIPPs Are the Future And Investors Know It

In short, the £650 billion SIPP boom is not just a market statistic – it’s the Great Investments Programme’s moment. 

It proves the public appetite for control, the hunger for performance, and the rejection of mediocrity. The revolution in self-directed investing has already begun – and GIP is its natural home.

Join the Great Investments Programme to learn how to beat fund underperformance.

Disclaimer: This article is for information and education only. It is not financial, investment, or tax advice. Investments can go up and down, and you may get back less than you invest. Past performance is not a guide to future results. If you are unsure about the suitability of any investment, you should speak to a regulated financial adviser. Alpesh Patel OBE www.campaignforamillion.com