How to trace your pensions

By law, all employers must offer a workplace pension scheme. That means for every past or future job, you will acquire a new pension. With job-hopping on the rise, there’ll be plenty of people out there with several pension pots, and without keeping an eye on them, they can be easy to forget. 

Hopefully, after reading the tips below, you’ll know what steps to take to track down any lost pensions, whether it be contacting a provider to obtain information, reaching out to an old employer, or using the pension tracing service.

Contacting the pension provider 

If you’ve managed to find an old password in a notebook or paperwork in your rubbish drawer from your pension provider, you’ll know who to contact to find out more about your pension. 

Using the below information, give them a call…

• Full name

• National Insurance No. 

• Date of birth

• The date you set up your pension (if you remember)

You should ask them the following questions: 

• What is the value of your pension pot 

• How much has been paid into the pot

• Would there be any charges if you transferred your pension pot to another provider 

• How much are they charging to manage your pension pot

Keep this information to hand! 

Contacting your previous employer 

If you can’t seem to find any scrap of evidence about any old pensions and who the provider may be, you can contact your previous employer. They should be able to give you information about the pension scheme they enrolled you in, and the start and finish dates of your employment. You should also ask your employer what type of scheme it was – defined contribution or defined benefit. 

You may want to speak to your old colleagues if you don’t feel comfortable contacting a previous employer.

Contact the Pension Tracing Service 

Can’t find any details about an old pension or get hold of a previous employer? 

The Pension Tracing Service is a free government service. It searches over 200,000 workplace and personal schemes to try and find the contact details you need. 

Click here to find out more information or apply to track down your lost pensions. 

Top tip: Not often, but pension schemes can change, and close down. You should be informed if this happens and how it affects your pension. This is why it’s important to keep a closer eye on your pensions and ensure the providers have the right address and contact details for you so that you can receive important communication.