What happened to your pension?
It's estimated that there are 1.6 million lost UK pensions, worth nearly £20 Billion. Use our FREE, no-obligation pension tracing service to track down and locate your old pension schemes.
*This service is not managed by or part of the UK Government’s pensions tracing programme
Don't lose your hard-earned cash!
Why do you need to ensure your pensions are accounted for?
The average person will have jobs 11 and move home several times over their lifetime. This number is higher for Millenials. Many companies enrol employees into pension schemes on their behalf and millions of Brits contracted out of the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS) in the 80s and 90s, in favour of private schemes. With the average working life spanning 40+ years, it's not surprising we forget or lose track of pensions schemes we contributed to.
How big is the problem?
According to the Association of British Insurers, there are £19.4 billion of pension pots unclaimed – just because of house moves! Alarmingly, their publication estimates there are 1.6 million unclaimed pension pots (as of 2018) and predicts this number rising to 50 million by 2050.
If you average out these findings, that means there is nearly £13,000 per unclaimed pension pot. This might not sound a lot, but if a 40-year-old invested £13,000 today and it grew by 7% per year, by retirement age they would have over £70,000 - That's a lot of money to simply forget about!
How can we help you track down old UK pensions?
1. Confirm
Once we receive your enquiry, a UK pensions specialist will contact you to confirm information about any lost pensions you think you may have. This could include details such as the names of your previous employers and pension scheme providers, pension trustees, dates of employment, and any other relevant information. If your old employer is no longer trading, or you don't have specific information available, don't worry, it is usually still possible to trace your lost pensions.
2. Consent
Our UK pensions specialists work day in, day out tracing pensions. They have a comprehensive list of UK pension providers and access to the pension tracing service from the Department of Work and Pensions. In order to initiate a search on your behalf, you will need to provide your written consent due to data protection laws.
Once your tracing request had been confirmed, you will be sent a form to sign called a 'Letter of Authority' or 'Letter of Permission'. You will need to sign this letter so that companies and pension providers know that you have consented to requests for information about your pension schemes being made on your behalf.
3. Trace
Once you have given your consent, our UK pensions specialists will connect with the pension providers who administered the pension scheme(s) of your previous employer(s), instructing them to search on their system to locate your details, usually by using your National Insurance number. Here is an example of the information we typically find out for you:
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Pension plan policy number(s)
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Contact details of the scheme administrators
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The current value/benefit and transfer value of your pension
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What contributions were paid into your plan since it started
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How much pension income and tax-free cash the plan is likely to pay out at retirement
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Details of any charges for transferring to another pension provider
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Details of the funds your pension pot is invested in
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What plan charges you are paying
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The death benefits your plan will provide
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Whether or not you have nominated anyone for the death benefits to be paid to
Some pension schemes may require specific information, such as proof of your identity, or proof of your address. If this is the case, your pensions specialist will inform you of any response received and you can act accordingly. It's worth noting that some scheme providers take a long time to process requests for pension information from their old scheme members. It is not unusual for a pension to take months, and in some cases over a year to trace. Don't worry if this happens, our pensions team will keep following up with your pension provider on your behalf and keep you updated throughout the process.
4. Review
Once your pensions have been located and further information obtained, your advisor will review your pension schemes. You will receive advice on how well your pension has performed, what charges you are paying, what features and benefits your scheme has, and whether they meet your circumstances and objectives. There isn't a fee for this service.
Because many older schemes are outdated, modern schemes often offer many more features, greater flexibility, and more efficient charges. Your Independent Financial Advisor will check the whole market and show you current pension offers, demonstrating how they fit with your requirements. If you choose to act on their advice, any fee or charge for their service will be fully disclosed to you at that time and you are under no obligation to accept their advice or proceed with any offer.