Have you lost track of some of your pension funds?

15 August 2018

It’s estimated that up to seven million people in the UK have lost touch with some of their pension savings. What can you do to make sure you don’t miss out on all the pension you are entitled to?

The financial services sector has for many years been aware that consumers frequently lose touch with providers of their pension scheme. When people move home, they often forget to let their scheme provider know their new address. It’s a simple mistake, but one that could cost you thousands of pounds.

This is a problem that could be getting worse because of a change in working habits. People on average nowadays have 11 jobs during their career, so employees are tending to build up several relatively small pension funds across multiple schemes. In these circumstances it’s easy for people to lose track of the schemes they are enrolled in.

Insurance company Aegon say that 64% of savers have more than one private pension fund, either from multiple employers or private pension providers. It’s believed that 22% of these people have lost track of one or more of their funds.

You don’t need to be Columbo to track down your pension savings

Thankfully, getting an accurate picture of your pensions needn’t require hours of investigation. Here are three tips for finding out where your savings are held:

1. Review your employment history.
   If you are in any doubt about whether you are in a workplace pension scheme with a former employer, call or write to them. It will help them if you supply details of when you worked for them, so look back through any old payslips, P45s or tax records to get that information if you are unsure.
   
   
2. Check that personal pension schemes haven’t lost touch with you.
   If you know you have a personal pension but haven’t heard from the scheme for a while, contact them – especially if you have moved house in the past few years.
   
   
3.  Use the government’s Pension Tracing Service.
   The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) launched a Pension Tracing Service in 2016. This aims to help people locate their lost workplace or personal pension savings by providing contact details for pension schemes. The service has an online function, but if that doesn’t help you can phone them or write for further assistance.

Don’t lose out on your pension

With an estimated £400 million in unclaimed pension savings, this is clearly a serious issue affecting millions of people. Make sure you aren’t one of the unlucky ones: a little research now could reunite you with your hard-earned pension savings.

Is it time to look into an annuity?

If you have details of one or more pension schemes in which you are enrolled you can start the annuity application process now. Retirement Line can get things started right away, even if you still need to track down additional schemes. Please call us on 0800 652 1316 to discuss any issues around arranging a pension annuity.