There are around 4.8 million lost pension pots in the UK. With 1 in 10 workers believed to have lost pensions worth more than £10,000, there’s a strong chance you may have pension savings that you’ve lost track of[1].
Data from the Centre for Economics and Business Research, suggests that up to £50 billion is at risk of being misplaced – left to linger in abandoned accounts or scattered across several lost pension pots[2].
Pension Awareness Week may not be marked in your diary, but if you think you may have misplaced pension savings during your career, now may be a good time to hunt them down.
Moving could mean you’ve lost track of old pension savings
During your life, you’re likely to change jobs or move home multiple times. As a result, you could end up paying into several different pensions during your career. If you’ve ever worked for yourself, you may also have a personal pension.
As life progresses, it can be easy to lose track of old pension funds.
3 simple steps to track down your lost pensions
If you think you may have misplaced a pension, here are three steps to help you track it down.
- Sort out your paperwork
First things first, sort through old paperwork to track down details of your pension.
Your provider should send you an annual statement, so look through your old correspondence and emails to see if you have any details. If you’ve had a personal pension, check back through your bank statements to find details of payments to a pension provider.
If you draw a blank, move along to…
- Contact your old employers
Get in touch with your old employers and ask for details of the workplace pension provider. They may ask about your rough dates of employment and your National Insurance (NI) number, so have these ready.
If you’re not sure where to begin, work through your CV (or LinkedIn profile!) to make sure you’ve contacted all your previous employers.
Your former employers should be able to tell who your pension is with. Then, you’ll be able to contact the provider and ask them to track down your fund.
To help the provider match you with the right pot, you’ll may need your:
- NI number
- Employment details
- Previous addresses.
If you’re still struggling to track down your lost pension pot(s), go online…
- Use the Pension Tracing Service
The government Pension Tracing Service is an online service that can help you find provider contact details for a lost pension – whether it’s a workplace scheme or personal pension.
This service won’t tell you whether you have a pension, or what its value is, but it should provide you with details of which organisation you need to contact.
Keep track and reduce future admin hassle
Once you’ve located all your pension savings, you might wish to consolidate them into one easy-to-manage pot.
This may help to reduce the hassle factor, increase investment choice, and could reduce the amount you pay in fees.
Transferring all your pension plans to a newer scheme with more choices, lower charges, and better performance might be the right option for you.
However, consolidating pensions isn’t right for everyone, and fees may apply. So, get in touch and we’ll help you understand the pros and cons that apply to you.
A “pot-for-life” could solve the lost-pension problem for future generations
Before losing power to the Labour Party, the Conservatives party proposed “pot-for-life” reforms to help tackle the lost-pot problem.
Though the proposal wasn’t mentioned in the Labour manifesto, there’s still a chance that the new government could help further these discussions.
As well as benefiting savers, it’s believed that this measure could help pension schemes cut costs.
Get in touch
If you’d like support with organising your pensions or retirement plan, email info.wp@titanwh.com or call us on 0800 048 0150.
Please note
The information contained in this article is based on the opinion of Titan Wealth Planning and does not constitute financial advice or a recommendation for any investment or retirement strategy.
The value of your investment can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Levels, bases of and reliefs from taxation may be subject to change and their value depends on the individual circumstances of the investor.
Workplace pensions are regulated by The Pension Regulator.
[1] https://www.pensionbee.com/uk/press/risk-of-pensions-being-lost
[2] https://www.pensionbee.com/uk/press/risk-of-pensions-being-lost
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