Forgotten pension plans

Over the course of your working life, many people will gather a number of separate pension pots.

It’s easy to lose track of these pensions over time, particularly if you move home or the pension provider changes its name.

So, what do you do if you believe you have lost a pension?

Fortunately, the Government has a pension tracing service Find pension contact details - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), that is free of charge. Additionally the Pensions Advisory Service The Pensions Advisory Service will assist further, they have a pensions tracing service, this is very useful for Defined Benefit Schemes.

To use the Government Tracing Service, you will need to know some information first.

If it’s a workplace, you will need to know the name of your employer, which will point you towards which insurance company the pension was set up with.

For a personal pension, you will need the name of the insurer. Giving the original name of the insurance company is acceptable, and if your original provider has been bought by another company then the tracing service will point you towards the current insurance company.

When writing, you will need to include your full name (and change of name if applicable), address, date or birth and national insurance number, and from that information the insurance company will be able to locate your plan.

It is estimated that pension pots with a value of £19bn are lost, and these may never be claimed.

We recommend that all of our clients keep their pension information in one place, and always remember to inform your pension provider if you move to a new house.