Setting up a workplace pension without excessive costs

[Smartie]

I think you need to look a bit deeper than regurgitating HL's party line, to be honest. It isn't so simple. HL are fine as long as you don't invest in funds. Shares have a capped fee, so HL would be a good option. If you do invest in funds, and many of us do, then HL have your eyes out for the privilege.

I really don't care what platform people want to use. Simply offering a bit more information.
Example - Jupiter Asian Income, Interactive Investor 0.98% ongoing charge, HL 0.69%
Cost to buy funds HL £0, cost to buy on III, free (included) a few times a year then £10 per trade (reduced if you trade several times a month).
So, the platform fee is not the only consideration.

Personally I'll be moving a good chunk of my funds to a cheaper provider because you're right, HL is generally more expensive. The service is good though and the platform is pretty nice.
Probably start with the trackers and then decide what to do with the more active funds later.

[Ebenezer]

There are a couple of other considerations here.
Firstly, HL don't charge for trading in funds so if you're investing in those and do it fairly regularly i.e. more than once a month then that can add up on other platforms that charge you per trade.
Also, HL provides a discount on many funds - somewhere around 0.2% which is reasonably significant against a 1% standard charge. Other providers don't do this.
Note that there isn't usually a discount on cheap trackers so it depends what you're invested in.

So, the calculation can be a bit more complex depending on what you invest in and how often.

It's possible that YANCOTBAC if dealing charges are an issue though; on any reasonable deal size it's probably better to suck up the £1.50/£5/£10/whatever in exchange for a fixed (or capped) annual platform charge.

Once again, Compare the UK’s cheapest online brokers is recommended reading.