‘23% have lost track of pension’
Nearly a quarter of UK adults have lost track of at least one pension, pouring confusion onto their retirement saving plans, a charity has found.
The trend for people having a variety of employers over a working lifetime and paying into multiple schemes is a main cause of people leaving a string of pension “black holes” behind, suggested Age UK.
Around a quarter of the people surveyed by the charity (23%) have had a pension which they failed to keep track of. Almost half of them say the pension has disappeared into the “mists of time” and one fifth cannot find the relevant paperwork.
One in 10 people with a lost pension have changed jobs too many times to keep track of it. Younger workers are much more likely to have lost a pension, at 37% of those aged between 18 and 44.
Age UK said that the trend for people having to frequently switch jobs because of the tough economic climate is a significant factor in so many lost pots of money.
It found that 23% of workers aged 25-34 have worked for five or six employers on average, matching the typical total for people aged over 65.
The findings come as the Government is rolling out its automatic enrolment scheme which is placing as many as 10 million workers into workplace pensions, blaming the fact that people are living for longer but are not putting enough cash aside for their later years.
The Government has been looking at the issue of stranded pension pots. Last year it outlined a plan to make it easier for people to take work pensions with them when they change job.
The Government says it believes its “pot follows member” plan could halve the number of dormant pension pots that would have otherwise been created by 2050 by making it easier for people to keep their money with them.
Without change to the system, as many as 50 million pension pots could be sitting dormant by 2050, according to the Government. Estimates have already put the total value of unclaimed pensions at around £3 billion.
Age UK said that people hunting for a lost pension should collect as much information about their previous employer as possible, as well as dates for when they were part of the scheme and any paperwork.
People can also contact the Pension Tracing Service which helps to track down lost money.
Have you lost track of any previous pension schemes which you may have paid in to?
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