Since 2012 over eight million employees have been put into pension plans picked by our employers.

Under “automatic enrolment” rules firms must save into a pension on behalf of their staff. It is thought about 90pc make no investment choice, however: their money goes into “default” funds selected by employers or their advisers.

As a result, billions worth of lifetime savings are entrusted to pension firms to invest and oversee - with more or less success.

Five years on from the launch of the Government’s flagship savings programme, Hargreaves Lansdown, the fund shop, has analysed Britain's biggest "default" pension funds. These are the likely recipients of the cash belonging to workers who make no active choice about their investments.

On average the default funds returned 10.2pc annually – which is a far higher return than savers would earn on cash – but 3.7 percentage points lower than the average globally invested fund.

Aside from Government-backed Nest, which puts savers into one of dozens of default funds depending on their age, the analysis compares the performance of each provider's default fund option. In the case of Nest, a fund aimed at forty-somethings was used.

Returns, sourced from Lipper, a financial data firm, are to 30th June this year. Note too that in reality, charges vary depending on the arrangement negotiated between employers and pension firms.