How to find an old pension
Ways to uncover lost or forgotten pensions for FREE
Job moves, new addresses and name changes can mean it's easy to lose track of your pensions over the years. But with billions of pounds in unclaimed, inactive or lost pensions in the UK, it's worth finding out if any of that money might be yours. This guide explains how to find lost or old pensions for FREE, which could help bolster your retirement.
Need more pension information?
This guide is about how to find lost pensions. If you're looking for something else, take a look at our other pension guides...
How pensions get lost
If you're worried you've lost track of a pension over the years, you're not alone. With billions of pounds sitting in unclaimed, inactive or lost UK pension pots, the numbers speak for themselves.
This can happen for a number of reasons, and some of the most common culprits are...
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You've moved house without updating your details with your pension provider. This means important documents, such as your annual statement, are unlikely to reach you. You may lose track of correspondence altogether, and over time forget you ever even had a pension with that employer.
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You've changed jobs a lot over the years. Any new workplace pension won't necessarily be with the same pension provider as your previous one (or transfer across automatically), meaning it can be easy to forget who your old pension was with in years to come – especially if you were only with an employer for a short amount of time.
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Your pension provider has merged or rebranded. This could make it difficult to know which company you now need to contact.
Is your pension definitely lost?
Just because you were employed somewhere, it doesn't always mean you'll have had a pension through that employer.
Nowadays, employers must automatically enrol most employees into their workplace pension schemes, so you're likely to have pensions from more recent jobs – but this wasn't always the case. Pension rules have changed over the years, so whether you built up a pension could depend on when and how long you were working for.
Although it might vary from one pension scheme to another, as a rough guide the following generally applies:
Before April 1975
If you left your employer before April 1975, it's likely you'll have had any pension contributions refunded. Also some schemes didn't require members to pay contributions, so you wouldn't be entitled to any pension benefits if this was the case.
April 1975 to April 1988
If you left your employer between April 1975 and April 1988, were over age 26 and had completed five years' service by the time you left, a pension may have been kept for you. If you left with less than five years' service, you might have had your contributions refunded.
April 1988 onwards
If you left your employer after April 1988, you might be entitled to a pension. This is provided you had completed two years' service. If you left with less than two years' service, you might have had your contributions refunded.
I need help to find a pension – what next?
Finding lost pensions can be an extremely lucrative way to bolster your retirement income.
If you think (or even just suspect) you've lost track of one or more pensions during your working life, then below we take you through how to find lost pensions.
Some pension tracing inspiration
You do have to put in some legwork to trace old or missing pensions, but considering it can result in some large sums of money, it's definitely worth putting in the effort, as Richard demonstrates...
'I found more than £137,000 in an old pension. I'm a big fan and want to say thanks!'
MoneySaver Richard followed Martin's tips after hearing about others who'd successfully found lost pensions.
After a few months, he managed to locate his old pension provider and a few calls later he'd found an old work pension which he'd stopped paying into during the 1990s. Richard wrote to us in April 2023:
I just wanted to thank Martin and the team for advice in locating lost pensions. I followed the advice and after a few months managed to locate my old pension provider, who were now Aviva.
After a few calls with them they found my old pension which I had stopped paying into during the 1990s.
When I called to check the current valuation, I still remember the lady at Aviva saying, 'Oh my God, do you know how much your pension is worth?' She was shocked that it had reached a value of £137,749.
I always watch and read what Martin says and without his advice on locating lost pensions, I would never have started looking for it.
Richard
There's absolutely no need to pay anyone to do this. Be wary of anyone approaching you for paid services to find your pension, it could be a scam. Stick to the FREE steps below of how to find a lost pension to avoid losing any of your hard earned savings.
How to find lost pensions for FREE
If you're beginning to think about your retirement, having a good understanding of how much your pension savings are worth can make planning easier – which means finding any lost or old pensions is a vital step in this process. Here are some steps you can take to try and find any old or lost pensions...
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Make a list of all your old employers so you know how many pensions you're looking for. You should have details on pension statements, but if you can't find these, try contacting the HR department at old employers to see if they can help find details of previous workplace pension schemes you might have been part of.
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If you can't find any paperwork and you can't get hold of the old employer, you could try the simple, free tool from the Pension Tracing Service. It has details of more than 200,000 different pension schemes, and will help you find an up-to-date contact address for the scheme you're looking for. You can also call on 0800 731 0193.
Important: the Pension Tracing Service only tells you the contact details of the pension's administrator. It's then up to you to contact the pension administrator yourself.
Gretel: the catch-all service
Something else you can try is Gretel. This free catch-all service launched in 2022.
To start a search, just fill in your name, address and date of birth. Gretel will then do a 'soft search' on your credit report (don't worry – this won't affect your credit score and lenders can't see it) to check your identity and match you with previous addresses where you may have accounts registered.
You can also use Gretel to search for lost assets on behalf of vulnerable or deceased loved ones.
Not all financial institutions are signed up to Gretel, so you may not get a match straightaway – but it will continue to search for lost accounts (including pensions) on your behalf, and will let you know if your details match a lost account with a company that joins in future.
We love to hear about your experiences (and successes), so let us know how you get on in the MSE Forum.
What do I do with the pension when I find it?
If you do successfully find a lost pension, you'll need to decide what to do next.
The first step is to contact the pension provider with your plan number, date of birth and National Insurance number. The provider will then be able to verify the key details of the policy, including its current value and options for accessing the funds.
Make sure you update your contact information with the provider so they can keep in touch.
What you do with the funds will depend on your personal circumstances, and how well the pension is performing. It's a good idea to seek independent financial advice, especially if there's anything you're not sure about or you've stumbled across a large sum of money.
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