October is upon us, which can mean only one thing… It’s time to start clearing out your desk drawers and rifling through your filing cabinets in readiness for this year’s National Pension Tracing Day.
A recent report from Pension Expert has suggested that 9 out of 10 UK workers have an unclaimed workplace pension that they have either forgotten about or that is “lost”. And on 29 October this year, you’ll be urged to find it.
Keep reading for a look at how you might go about that, why you should, and what to do next once all your pensions have been found.
If you’ve moved house, changed jobs, or been auto-enrolled you might have “lost” pensions you’ve forgotten about
Back in October 2022, the Pension Policy Institute confirmed that more than £26 billion sat in unclaimed UK pension plans.
The report found that two of the main causes for pensions being lost were:
- Changing jobs and ceasing to contribute, automatically deferring the pension
- Moving house and not updating pension providers with a new address.
On top of this, recent decades have seen a clear shift away from the “job for life”. Self-proclaimed career’s experts, Zippia confirmed earlier this year that the average UK adult will have 12 jobs during their lifetime.
Since the introduction of auto-enrolment back in 2012, each eligible period of employment will have seen you enrolled into a workplace pension.
You could have a dozen or more separate pensions, a situation that will only have been made worse by the coronavirus pandemic and the so-called “great resignation” that it sparked.
The government’s Pension Tracing Service can help you to find your lost pensions now
Before you go about tracing your pensions, you’ll have to decide whether you might have lost any.
Find all the retirement paperwork you have and match it up to the jobs you’ve held and the scheme providers that you remember taking a pension out with. Some schemes may have changed their name, or providers might’ve been taken over by new companies, so think carefully.
If you suspect a private or workplace pension has gone missing, now is the time to start tracing.
The government’s Pension Tracing Service can help you find your lost pensions, but only if you can remember the name of the employer or company you set up the plan with.
You’ll be asked to provide as much detail as you can and the portal will come back with contact details for your scheme, helping to reconnect you with your unclaimed fund.
Making the most of the UK’s National Pension Tracing Day to find your lost pensions might be a lot of effort now, but it will save you time and stress later on.
There are some clear financial advantages too.
Finding all your pensions means you are fully informed and can make the best financial decisions for you
First off, finding lost pensions is important because they contain your hard-earned money, which you have the right to enjoy during your retirement.
But it also means that you have the full picture and can make fully informed decisions. This puts you firmly back in control of your retirement.
With all your policies together, you might consider consolidating them into one or more bigger plans.
Some older schemes might have higher charges and less flexibility in terms of fund choices or how you interact with your provider. Newer plans might have online portals, for example, or access to funds linked to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors.
Transferring all your plans to a newer scheme with more choices, lower charges, and better performance might be the right option for you. Equally, though, there are some cons to consolidation that you’ll need to weigh up.
Transfer fees might apply, and you could miss out on tax advantages associated with smaller funds.
At HA&W, we can help you decide on the right option for you so get in touch if you are considering pension consolidation.
Get in touch
This year’s National Pension Tracing Day is the perfect time to revisit your pension provision and think about the type of retirement lifestyle you want to live. We can help you to build a long-term financial plan, aligned to your goals, so get in touch now if you have any questions.
Contact us to find out how our Chartered financial planners could help you.
Please note
The value of your investment can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Levels, bases of and reliefs from taxation may be subject to change and their value depends on the individual circumstances of the investor.
Workplace pensions are regulated by The Pension Regulator.
