On the go: Punter Southall Aspire is launching the UK’s first National Pension Tracing Day on October 31 when the clocks go back, and is urging people to use their extra hour to trace lost pensions.
With backing from Scottish Widows, Aegon, Legal & General and Standard Life, Punter Southall Aspire is calling on the pensions industry to support its initiative to help people take action over the estimated 1.6m pots worth £19.4bn that have been lost or forgotten.
“We will launch an online resource centre in October to help everyone take the first steps to discovering what may be a missing or misplaced windfall,” Alan Morahan, Punter Southall Aspire’s employee benefits managing director, said.
Johanna Nelson, director of communications at the consultancy, said: “Think of it like buried treasure. We’re going to give people the equivalent of a map to start their own search. The extra hour at the end of October is an ideal time to make a start.”
Job changes and house moves are two of the big factors contributing to the lost pensions problem.
On average, people switch jobs 11 times and move eight times, while forgetting to update their pension company.
According to the Department for Work and Pensions, by 2050 this could lead to as many as 50m lost pensions.
Robert Cochran, retirement expert at Scottish Widows, said: “Our research tells us that while savers already have the option of combining their pensions, one in 10 have no idea how to do this, while 12 per cent say it’s just too much hassle. As a result, 44 per cent say they have never bothered to track down savings from a previous employer.
“The issue of lost pots will only increase as people change jobs and are enrolled into new pension schemes. For all these reasons, Scottish Widows is delighted to support the National Pension Tracing Day initiative to reunite people with what’s theirs and take control of their financial futures.”
Emma Byron, managing director of L&G Retirement Solutions, also pointed to how easy it is for people to lose track of their pensions.
L&G launched its own service to track and consolidate lost and forgotten pension pots at the beginning of this year, having conducted research that found more than half of savers have more than one pot, but of those only 17 per cent have already consolidated.
“People change jobs and move house more frequently now than in the past and their lost and forgotten pots can make all the difference, particularly as we see such a significant number of people reaching retirement without adequate pension provision,” Byron noted
“We know the value that spending time on your retirement planning, even if it’s just an afternoon, can make once you reach retirement. We hope to see many people taking advantage of October 31 as an opportunity to start their search for their lost and forgotten pots.”
