News
September 2007
Brits missing out on forgotten pensions
Over half of UK adults have no idea how much money they’ve built up in pension schemes – and one in six people have no details of where their money is saved.
Findings published by Directgov show that an alarming number of people aren’t keeping track of pensions savings which could make a substantial difference to their retirement income. People could be losing out on pension entitlements worth thousands of pounds.
The national survey found that one of the main reasons for losing track of pensions is the number of times people change jobs, with one in five UK adults changing jobs five times or more by the time they are 34 years old.
To help people track down their lost pension, the government has a free pension tracing service.
Tony Douglas, a 59 year old civil servant from Newcastle, thought his old pension scheme was worthless until he used the pension tracing service and discovered it was worth £25,000.
Anyone can use the Pension Tracing Service, for free, to trace pensions that they may have lost touch with. There is a simple online form, a call back service or a direct telephone number.