An estimated 2.8 million pension accounts are reportedly going unclaimed across the UK.
Financial platform Gretel has calculated that a staggering £65 billion in total has been abandoned nationwide, with an average of £23,125 per person waiting to be claimed.
It’s not uncommon for individuals who have worked their entire lives to lose track of their pensions, especially if they’ve had multiple employers each with different pension schemes. Pension schemes often merge or change names over time, adding to the confusion.
Even if you believe you’re not missing any pension entitlements, it’s worth checking – it’s quick, easy and won’t impact your current financial situation.
How to locate a lost pension
Pension Tracing Service
There are numerous ways to track down a missing pension that you may be entitled to. One of the simplest methods is through the government’s free Pension Tracing service.
This service provides contact details for your own workplace or personal pension scheme, or someone else’s scheme if you have their permission to check.
You can carry out the check online by entering the necessary details, or call the Pension Tracing Service on 0800 731 0193.
Contacting the pension provider
Once you have the contact details for your pension provider, you should send them a letter or email containing as much information as possible, including:
- Your name.
- Your date of birth.
- Your pension plan number.
- Your National Insurance number.
- When your pension plan was created.
Contacting a former employer
If you’re tracking a workplace pension, you should contact the former employer who set it up. Again, you will need to provide as much detail as possible.
For a former employer, it could also help to include:
- The date your employment started
- The date your employment ended
- The date you joined and left the workplace pension scheme
Gretel
Gretel is a free service that launched in April 2022, designed to help people locate any unclaimed financial assets, including pensions. Simply sign up to their service with a name and address, and they will check across different pension providers for you, sending you any updates if there is any cash that has been left unclaimed.
If you don’t find a lost pension straight away, Gretel emphasises that new providers are added to the platform regularly. It also performs scans every two weeks for lost accounts.
You can sign up to Gretel here.
