Why it’s time to track down your lost pensions
It’s not uncommon these days for people to switch jobs multiple times in their working life - it’s estimated that UK workers change jobs at least six times during their career.
However, with each job change comes the potential to leave behind a retirement plan, such as a pension.
Over time, it can be easy to lose track of these, but it's important to find them as it could be an opportunity missed – this lost cash could make a difference to your overall retirement fund.
The value of ‘lost’ pension funds is rising
In 2022, the Pensions Policy Institute found that the value of ‘lost’ pension pots has increased by a whopping £7 billion since 2018. It’s estimated that there is around £26.6 billion* that’s unaccounted for, across three million pension pots.
One of the reasons for this is that, since 2012, employers are legally obliged to provide a pension for their staff.
So although we no longer have ‘jobs for life’ everyone we work for now has to offer a pension. It’s easy to see why it can become a bit of a mess!
Jobs we’ve forgotten about
Keeping track of all these pension pots becomes more complicated if you only held a job for a short while.
It’s easy to forget you even had a pension, or who it was with.
Life becomes chaotic, and paperwork gets lost. We have so many people to notify when we move home, it can be easy to forget the pension provider from a retail job you held for six months one summer.
Even if you do know who your old pensions are with, those companies may have been acquired or gone out of business several times since your employer started the fund.
In recent years there’s been an increase in people moving house and more people changing jobs through the Coronavirus pandemic. This has worsened the issue.
Of course, not everyone will have a hidden fortune hidden away somewhere. But even if it’s just a small amount, it’s still your money – and it might benefit from consolidation into a larger pension. Merging your pensions helps you reduce your fees and can help you increase your overall pension income.
Call in the experts to do the detective work
The good news is you don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to find a lost pension. The UK government has a service to help you find the contact details for lost workplace and personal pension schemes.
A Pensions Dashboard is also in the works. The plan is that it will help people to manage their employer, private and state pensions all in one place. (This project has been delayed many times, however, so don’t hold your breath.)
While there are tools in place to find old pension pots, it can be time consuming and frustrating. Especially if the original provider has changed names (or hands) multiple times throughout the years.
Membership numbers, contact details, how much money you have in the scheme… it can take a while to pull all of this together. This is where we can help.
In the past we’ve helped clients track down and collate pots of all sizes. Whether it’s a small one they can add to a larger pot – to reduce fees and increase income – or a surprise fortune, we can take the stress out of finding lost money.
What you can do next
If you think you might have a lot of money across pension pots, please get in touch.
What we’ll need from you to get started:
Any paperwork you’ve kept
A clear, chronological list of your career history
A list of the companies you’ve worked for, their address and the dates you worked there.
Then you can kick back, relax and let us do the detective work.
*https://www.pensionspolicyinstitute.org.uk/media/4183/20221027-lost-pensions-press-release-final.pdf