How one can discover a misplaced pension pot in time it takes to make a cup of tea

[ad_1] Your help helps us to inform the story From reproductive rights to local weather change to Massive Tech, The Impartial is on the bottom when the story is growing. Whether or not it is investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our newest documentary, 'The A Phrase', which shines a lightweight on the American ladies preventing for reproductive rights, we all know how vital it's to parse out the information from the messaging.

At such a vital second in US historical past, we want reporters on the bottom. Your donation permits us to maintain sending journalists to talk to either side of the story.

The Impartial is trusted by Individuals throughout all the political spectrum. And in contrast to many different high quality information retailers, we select to not lock Individuals out of our reporting and evaluation with paywalls. We consider high quality journalism must be obtainable to everybody, paid for by those that can afford it.

Your help makes all of the distinction. Learn extra Uncovering a misplaced pension pot, doubtlessly price hundreds of kilos, might take the identical time as brewing a cup of tea, new analysis suggests.

A examine performed for the Pension Consideration marketing campaign discovered that on common, it takes simply seven minutes and 29 seconds to start the method of finding an previous pension.

That is across the identical size of time it takes to hearken to couple of songs, or make and sit down with a cup of tea.

This findings had been based mostly on a timed experiment involving 400 people utilizing the Authorities’s pension tracing instrument, and launched forward of nationwide pension tracing day on Sunday October 26.

Misplaced pensions had been outlined as those who had been forgotten about or pensions that individuals had been conscious of however didn't know how you can find, making it tough to assert at retirement.

The Authorities’s “discover pension contact particulars” on-line service – gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details – was used and solely members whose employer was listed on the Authorities web site had been invited to proceed the experiment.

Recruits timed how lengthy it took them to entry the Authorities web site, discover their supplier’s contact particulars and provoke contact by both telephone or letter.

<img src="https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/10/20/10/28/iStock-1431036562.jpeg" srcset="https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/10/20/10/28/iStock-1431036562.jpeg?quality=75&width=320&auto=webp 320w, https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/10/20/10/28/iStock-1431036562.jpeg?quality=75&width=640&auto=webp 640w" loading="lazy" alt="For those looking to track down a lost pension, experts suggest you “Make a list of everywhere you have worked and check to see if you have pension paperwork for them.”" class="sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE"/> For these seeking to observe down a misplaced pension, consultants recommend you “Make an inventory of in all places you might have labored and test to see if in case you have pension paperwork for them.” (Getty Photos) Misplaced pensions might be price a mean of £9,500 every, in line with these behind the marketing campaign.

Mark Smith, spokesman for the Pension Consideration marketing campaign, mentioned: “With just some minutes, you may give your financial savings an actual enhance by visiting pensionattention.co.uk and use the pension tracing instrument to reconnect with forgotten pots and observe our tricks to higher perceive your pension.

“You may additionally discover it useful to assume again to previous jobs, test by way of previous paperwork and fill in any gaps in your pension historical past. Don’t neglect to replace your supplier along with your present particulars so that you keep linked to your financial savings for the longer term.”

Get a free fractional share price as much as £100.Capital in danger.

Phrases and situations apply.

Go to web site ADVERTISEMENT

Get a free fractional share price as much as £100.Capital in danger.

Phrases and situations apply.

Go to web site ADVERTISEMENT

The Pension Consideration marketing campaign is co-ordinated by the Affiliation of British Insurers (ABI) and Pensions UK, and funded by companies within the pensions trade.

Helen Morrissey, head of retirement evaluation, Hargreaves Lansdown, mentioned: “The misplaced pension downside continues to loom massive, with a current FOI (freedom of knowledge request) exhibiting the Authorities’s pension tracing service fielded round 274,000 calls in just below 5 years.

“Offering contact particulars for employers and suppliers could have helped hundreds of individuals reunite with pensions they misplaced observe of years in the past. It’s a fast name that may depart you hundreds of kilos better-off in retirement.

“Nonetheless, information suggests that is only a drop within the ocean, with the Pensions Coverage Institute estimating there may very well be as many as 3.3 million misplaced pensions on the market. That is all cash that may make a big enchancment to folks’s life in retirement and may very well be the distinction between struggling to make ends meet and having the ability to take pleasure in your golden years.”

Ms Morrissey mentioned the pensions dashboard, which is able to assist folks see all their pension pots in a single place, will make it simpler to trace down pensions.

For these seeking to observe down a misplaced pension, she advised: “Make an inventory of in all places you might have labored and test to see if in case you have pension paperwork for them.

“For those who don’t, and you observed you had a pension with them, then give the pension tracing helpline a name. You will have both the title of the corporate you labored for or the pension supplier. The service gained’t have the ability to let you know if in case you have a pension with them however they may give you contact particulars so you may observe it down.

“When you’ve tracked down your pensions, it's possible you'll want to consolidate them into one place. This could prevent time, admin and even price. It’s vital to match your previous supplier with what your new one can give you.

“What are the charges like? What sort of funding alternative is on supply and what help is obtainable to you? Having one overarching view of what you might have can remodel your retirement planning as you'll view one bigger pension otherwise to a number of small ones which you'll be tempted to money in and spend.

“Nonetheless, earlier than you make the leap, it’s actually vital to test that you simply gained’t be incurring costly exit charges by transferring out. One other factor to watch out of is the potential to overlook out on vital advantages reminiscent of assured annuity charges, which may very well be misplaced if the pension is transferred.”