How to find old or lost pension plans

Like many of us, if you’ve changed jobs a few times throughout your career or moved house more than once, it’s easy to lose track of any previous workplace pensions. In fact, it’s more common than you may think! The Association of British Insurers (ABI) estimated in 2018 that over 1.6 million pension plans, totalling around £20 billion are lost or are lying dormant.

If you have or think you have an old workplace pension from previous employment, it’s worth tracking it down for ease of management over the long term and to begin planning financially for your retirement.

So, how can they be found? Well, the great news is that since 2012, millions of workers have been ‘auto enrolled’ in their workplace pension schemes, which both you and your employer pay in to. Many people tend not to pay too much attention to these pensions or its value, and when they leave or change jobs, it’s often forgotten about.

If you think you have one or quite possibly more lost or dormant pension pots, it can actually be quite straightforward to track these down. With your National Insurance number, the names and addresses of your previous employers, and some help from the Government’s Pension Tracing Service, you should be able to find out everything you need to know and how to contact them.

Alternatively, if you have any old documents with the information on of the provider of your previous workplace pensions, you can contact them directly providing the same information for quick and easy access to your pension savings. If it’s been some time since you took out the pension plan, you could be in for a nice surprise as it’s had the potential to grow in value over the years!

Consider bringing all your pension plans together

If you manage to trace a lost pension plan or even if you want to make managing a number of plans easier, you could consider moving your pension plans into your current workplace or personal pension plan. While this might not be right for everyone, having all your pension savings in one place can cut down on admin time, as well as potentially reducing the charges you pay. Some older workplace pension plans might have valuable benefits too. Check you aren’t losing these if you want to transfer them into your current plan. For example, if you’re thinking about moving money out of a final salary pension, you should seek financial advice, which there’s likely to be a charge for.

Tracing down any old pension plans, combining them if that’s right for you, and keeping a regular eye on where you are with your retirement savings could help give you peace of mind about your financial future. And the next time you move jobs or change address, take the time to do the little bit of paperwork to ensure you can continue to keep track of all your pension plans.

* This blog is for information and entertainment purposes only. It does not constitute advice in any way.