Martin Lewis has shared some straightforward steps that workers can take to locate lost pension pots on the latest episode of Money Show Live. The consumer champion, along with a team of retirement experts, guided viewers and audience members through the often complex world of private and workplace pensions during a special pensions segment.
The financial guru’s main advice was not to withdraw from your workplace pension as it will provide vital financial support in retirement and to ensure your expression of wish form is up-to-date as pensions cannot be included in your will and could result in an ex-partner receiving a lump sum you didn’t intend to leave them. He also highlighted the issue of ‘lost pensions’, which can occur when people change jobs, alerting that around three million are currently unclaimed across the UK.
Auto-enrolment means that individuals over 22 earning at least £10,000 annually are automatically enrolled into a workplace pension scheme. The scheme began in 2012, so if you’ve switched jobs since then and haven’t kept track of your previous pension, the financial guru’s tips on locating it are crucial.
And if you think it’s not worth the effort, 59-year-old Trudy contacted the show to share how after hearing Martin previously explain how to find a lost pension, she did just that and discovered one worth a staggering £104,000.
Martin Lewis has issued a crucial alert to viewers, revealing: “Nearly three million pensions are thought to be ‘lost’, often these are worth £10,000 – this is not trivial money. So, try contacting your ex-employer if you know who they are and digging out your paperwork if you can.”, reports the Daily Record.
He also advised using the Pension Tracing Service tool on GOV. UK, which can list over 200,000 pension schemes.
Martin added: “So really what you want to do is list who is my old employer? What was its scheme? Has that scheme changed? Is it someone different? and then once you know, you go and contact them and you try and prove it was you and you dig it out.”
How to track down lost pensions
List of all previous jobs
- Make a list of all previous employers. It might be useful to go back through old paperwork such as payslips, P45s, P60s, CVs and job applications.
Online research
- If contact information isn’t available for an old employer, they can be tracked using the UK Government’s Pension Tracing Service on GOV.UK here.
Previous Employers
- Get in touch with previous employers to find out if they have any details. If they don’t exist anymore contact Companies House here or if a charity, contact the charity register here
Up-to-date statements
- Ask for an up-to-date statement, so the value of the pension is known and the correct paperwork is recorded.