How to find a missing pension

In the UK, it is a common problem that pension savings will go missing, or become somewhat lost and currently unaccountable. So how do I find a missing pension ?

It is estimated that over 3 million pension pots are currently missing. Worth a collective £ 26.6 billion in value, as per data issued by The Pensions Policy Institute in 2022.

So how exactly do people lose control of information on their pensions ?

Quite simply there a number of reasons of factors:

• People move employers on a regular basis
• Individuals will move home and not update their personal details.
• Someone may re-marry or divorce
• A person may move oversees to new country of residence.
• Or a company could close a current scheme and move to new provider.
• The business or employer running that pension could have ceased trading or gone bust.
• It could be lost by poor administration records held by a pension provider, or schemes could be migrated to a new pension administrator.
• The name of the company could be changed to a new name.

The first question is ask – is my pension actually lost ?

Where you actually a member of a respective pension scheme with a previous employer. In the past only certain individuals where allowed to join workplace pensions. They may have be restricted by their age, or could only join after a period of initial employment.

In the past, only large employers would of had active membership of certain types of schemes mainly Defined Benefits, or public sector such as Local Authority, Teacher’s pension NHS etc.

The other option for most people would have been to join a new pension arrangement with a 2rd party. Mainly as a result of contracting out (also known as SERPS).

It is only in recent times through the introduction of Auto Enrolment, that all employee’s are automatically enrolled in a workplace DC or DB pension scheme.

What are the requirements for current active membership of a pension scheme ?

At present AE schemes and DB schemes will normally send out an annual statement in paper format or via online portal. As part of legal requirement under current rules.

This will normally provide relevant information, such as pension provider, current value, contributions received and tax-relief added, plus details on fees and charges and where the investments are held. By doing this pensions details can be easily accessible, and they will normally provide contact details about how to contact them for future access. Along with brief summary of the options available to member at selected retirement date in future.

BEWARE OF PENSION SCAMMERS !

Whenever you are trying to find a missing pension policy or thinking of accessing, you should always contact the provider directly. If anyone out of the blue contacts you directly, the possible alarm bells should be ringing.

At present it is illegal in the UK for anyone to cold call you about your pensions, you can some report a firm to the Information Commission Office. https://ico.org.uk/

Someone may offer you a free review, investments opportunity, financial incentive. So it always advisable for you to contact relevant parties. If unsure take a step back and do some background checks or due diligence into the person contacting you. It surprises me the number of people that I have spoken to over the past few years through current job that have been contacted out of the blue, or know people that have lost pensions. For 2 simple reasons, they don’t understand how pensions work, or the offer to look after them is to appealing, enticing or the possible returns in future are to good to be be true.

So make it your decision to contact a provider and once you have found it, look after it !

So how do I track down a missing pension ?

Firstly try and create a list of your employment history, and see if you have any paperwork relating to the name of the company. What benefits were offered by the employer such as pension. It may provide details of what type of scheme was offered, along with the name of the pension provider.

If you are no longer receiving statements, then try the following as initial steps:

• Contact the pension provider directly, giving relevant personal information.
• Try contacting your personal employer, ideally through the HR department or payroll team.
• Contact an organisation such as the Pension Tracing Service. (This is a free and impartial organisation on offer to find missing pensions schemes.
• If company has gone bankrupt or was in financial difficulty, you could try the Financial Assistance Scheme or the PPF.

Contacting the pension provider directly:

If you know which provider your pension was with, your first step is to contact them.

On contacting, you should provide as many of the following details as possible:

• your plan number, your date of birth.
• your National Insurance number.
• the date your pension was set up, or the period that you think it relates to.

Upon receiving response or relevant details, it may contain the following information:

• What is the current value of the pension pot?
• Is there a nominated recipient for any death benefits?
• How much has been paid into the pension pot?
• What charges are you paying for management of the pension pot?
• How much income is the pension pot likely to pay out at your chosen retirement date?
• How is the pension pot being invested and what options are there for making changes?
• Would there be any charges if you wanted to transfer the pension pot to another provider?
• Are there any special features, such as a guaranteed annuity rate or a guaranteed minimum pension, or is it in a with profits fund ?
• What are the death benefits, how much money would be paid from the pension if you died?

Contacting the employer directly:

• If you want to trace a workplace pension – a scheme arranged by a previous employer – your first point of contact should be with the relevant employer.
• However, if your employer provided access to a personal or stakeholder scheme, contact the pension provider if you know their details.
• If you don’t know the pension provider’s details, ask your previous employer – they should be able to provide these.
• The main information you’ll need to provide is:
• your National Insurance number
• the date you started working there, along with the date that you left working that employment
• the dates you joined and left the pension scheme.
• And the main questions to ask are:
• what type of plan is it – for example, defined benefit or defined contribution?
• unless it’s a defined benefit scheme, which pension provider is your pension with?

What about using the Pensions Tracing Service:

If you don’t know how to contact your employer or pension provider, the Pension Tracing Service can help you find contact details for workplace and personal pension schemes.

You can find pension contact details at GOV.UK or by calling 0800 731 0193.

What about some alternative ways to find a missing pension:

As part of my day to day role speaking to people looking to access their pensions. It amazes me the number of people who have lost pensions, but out of the blue may meet an old work colleagues that you just been informed about an old pension they had. Some even think that it’s a SCAM as it may be an old scheme dating back from the 1980’s when they first started in employment. The provider has managed to trace them down as set age ahead of their selected retirement date. They may be able to give you details of the scheme, such as its name or contact information of the pension administrator running that respective scheme.

If you paid into a personal pension, you might be able to check your bank statements to see where your payments were going.

Was your pension in a defined benefit or final salary scheme? Then it’s possible that it’s been taken over by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF).

When an employer is no longer able to pay the pension benefits promised to its members, the PPF will take over and provide the benefits (subject to limits).

You can find a list of the schemes currently under the PPF or FAS below: https://www.fasmembers.org.uk or via telephone or e-mail:

The cost of calling us will vary depending on your phone operator. Find out more information about the indicative costs of calling. Our opening hours are 9 am to 5:30 pm, Monday to Friday, excluding English public holidays.

Telephone: 0330 678 0000
Overseas members: +44 (0)208 406 2121

Write to us

Post: 

Financial Assistance Scheme, 
PO Box 287, 
WYMONDHAM, 
NR18 8EZ

Email: fasmembers@ppf.co.uk

Or you could try the The Association of British Insurers on http://www.abi.org.uk

This trade association gives you steps to find the relevant contact details of pension and insurance providers.

What do I do in future to manage or track my pensions:

To keep track of all your pensions, you could create a spreadsheet or a simple dashboard listing the pension providers and their current values. You can then actively amend the details when you receive new annual statements or, for example, increase your contributions. It’s probably worth including contact details for each provider as well to make life easier in the future. Create a simple plan for what your collective pensions may provide for you in later years, when thinking of accessing to fund future years in retirement.

Remember, it’s vital and really important to keep account numbers, passwords, or any sensitive information separate for security purposes.

Hopefully the above information, has provided some valuable information and insights into finding a possible missing pension.

If you found this blog post useful, check out my other posts on pensions and investments and personal finance on https://moneyminted.co.uk