Fifth of pension savers '˜lose track' of at least one pot'

Some 17% of people said they have lost track of a pension at some point, according to research from wealth management group Tilney.

The main reasons given for this were that they have “never kept an interest”, lost paperwork or forgotten to notify providers of address changes.

Of those who had moved home, 13% said they had never notified their pension providers of their change of address and a further 12% were unsure whether they had or not.

When asked how they would go about finding a lost pension, nearly a third (32%) would contact their previous employer but a fifth (20%) said they would have no idea how to find it.

More than 1,200 people from across the UK with at least one workplace pension were surveyed.

According to Tilney’s research, the average person has worked for nearly six employers by the time they are over 55.

A potential solution for some people could be to consolidate scattered pensions into a single plan, but 72% of people said they have never consolidated plans, Tilney found.

“Alongside property, pensions represent one of the largest forms of private wealth in the UK and for most people these are going to be critical in funding their lifestyles in later life,” said Andy James, head of retirement planning at Tilney.

“Despite this, many UK adults are not sufficiently in control of these important financial assets, which are often scattered across multiple plans, forgotten about entirely or the paperwork has disappeared down the back of a sofa.”