Do you need help to track down missing pensions?

Long gone are the days of a “job for life” when school leavers could expect to stay in their first job until retirement. According to AAT a UK worker can now expect to have 6 different job roles throughout their working life. This makes keeping track of all of those workplace pensions harder and harder. If you move home (several times for some) or change your name it’s easy to lose track and forget to update your pension provider.

In fact according to experts at the Association of British Insurers there are around 1.6 million “lost” pensions worth a reported £19.4 billion.

During the Queen’s speech in May this year when the Queen outlined the Prime Minister’s agenda for the next 12 months, HM announced that unclaimed pensions, insurance policies and investments are set to join current accounts and savings as part of the dormant assets scheme. So it’s more important than ever to track down those long forgotten pensions.

What is the dormant assets scheme?

The scheme covers current accounts and savings which have been untouched for 15 years. The provider (bank/building society) must make an effort to contact the account holders, if this is unsuccessful the funds are transferred to the Government who then use the money towards good causes in local communities.

As highlighted above the scheme will soon expand to include pensions, insurance policies and investments.

The good news is if this happens to you and the money has already been transferred you can claim it back!

How can I track my old pension?

This can be quite tricky especially with providers changing their names and being bought out by other companies but there are a few things you can do.

• If you have any old documentation from pension providers – ring them and ask them for any further information they hold on you. Normally you need a policy number but as a pension is a tax product your provider should be able to trace it with your National Insurance number.
• Contact any old employers – if they are still in business they may be able to point you in the right direction.
• Use the free gov.uk pension tracing service which can help you find contact details for scheme administrators. All you need is the name of your former employers.

Alternatively why not get in touch with us, we offer a free service to try and help you locate pensions you can’t find.