NEST stands for the National Employment Savings Trust. NEST was set up by the government as an option for employers to use to comply with their auto-enrolment duties. Although set up by the government it is independently run.

However, NEST has some significant restrictions.

• before April 2017 NEST was generally not able to accept transfers from other pension schemes, but from April 2017 it can;
• before April 2017 NEST was only able to pay transfers out to another pension scheme for members aged 55 and over. However, from April 2017 these restrictions are lifted and NEST members will be subject to the same rules as all other pension savers so they will be able to transfer pots to other pension schemes at any age. 

For more information about NEST see the NEST Pensions website.