With an array of workplace and private pensions, it’s all too easy to lose track and end up with pensions that you’re struggling to trace. Don’t worry; there are several different ways you can find lost pension pots and make sure you can benefit on retirement
If you’ve been paying into both workplace and private pensions throughout your working life it can be tough to keep track of them all. Government data found that most people change job 11 times during their career and could have a pension associated with each workplace. Pension schemes can also close, merge, or be renamed, which makes things even more complicated.
There’s no shame in losing a pension;; in fact nearly 1 in 5 people will lose track of at least one pension pot before they retire. This has led to an estimated £400 million in unclaimed pension savings.
So, what can you do if you think you’ve lost a pension?
Check your paperwork
Start by looking through any paperwork you have at home. Most pension schemes send you a statement each year, which will also include an estimate of your retirement income. However, if you’ve moved house and not told your provider, you might not be receiving these statements anymore. Only one in 25 people remember to contact their pension provider when they move house.
If you can’t find any pension statements, look for any paperwork that might include your past employers’ details or mentions of a pension provider or scheme such as an employee handbook or contract.
Contact the pension provider
When you know the provider who looks after your pension pot, you can contact them directly. MoneyHelper offer a handy free template letter to make this process even easier.
To help the provider find your pension, you’ll likely need to provide at least one of the details below:
- Your plan number
- Your date of birth
- Your National Insurance number
- The date the pension was set up
Contact your former employer
If you’re not sure who the pension provider was, you can try contacting your former employer instead. They may be able to tell you who was handling their workplace pension during the time you were employed so you can get in touch.
To get the right details from your past employers, especially if you’ve not worked there for several years, you might need to share:
- Your National Insurance number
- The dates you worked for them
- The dates you joined and left the workplace pension scheme
Contact the Pension Tracing Service
A free service provided by the government; the Pension Trading Service is designed to help you track down your lost pension pots. It will search a database of more than 200,000 workplace and personal pension schemes to try and fine the contact details you need. If you’d like to use the service, you can contact them by phone on 0800 731 0193 or submit a request online.
Further ways to find your lost pensions for free
Still struggling to track down your pensions? There are some other options to consider that also won’t cost you a penny:
- Try speaking to your former colleagues as they may be able to share the name of the workplace pension provider or scheme with you.
- If you had a private pension or made contributions separately to your paycheck, look at your old bank statements to see whether you can see where those payments were sent.
- Use Gretl, a free service launched in April 2022 to help you trace lost accounts, pensions, and investments. They’ll use your name, current address, and date of birth to run a check and attempt to find your lost pensions every 14 days.
- Contact the Association of British Insurers as they may be able to help you contact the provider now responsible for your policy if it changed hands.
What should I do when I find my lost pension pots?
Once you’ve tracked down your lost pension pots, there are a few questions you might want to ask to find out where you stand:
- What’s its current value and how much is it estimated to be worth when you retire?
- Do any management charges apply?
- Do you have any nominated beneficiaries?
- Are there charges for transferring the pension to another provider?
You may also want to consider consolidating your pensions to make it easier to manage them in the future.
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