21% of those with multiple pensions have lost track of one or all of their pensions
39% don’t know the total value of their pensions
67% would be interested in moving all their pensions to one provider if there were financial benefits
The findings highlight the challenge of a broader trend towards a career involving an average of 11 jobs and the difficulty of keeping tabs on workplace savings. With a majority of people holding multiple pensions, as many as two fifths (39%) did not know the value of their pensions.
Kate Smith, Head of Pensions at Aegon said: “Today people have diverse careers often involving multiple jobs with different companies. The introduction of auto-enrolment has also led to more than 7 million people saving into a pension and a big increase in total number of pension savers. As a result, a majority of people now have more than one pension but it’s a concern to find that 21% of these people have lost track of some of their savings. It’s very hard to plan your retirement without a full view of your savings and it’s important everyone has a clear idea of how much their pension is worth and what their state pension entitlement is likely to be.”
One option to prevent losing track of different pension pots is to combine them with one pension provider and Aegon’s research found 67% of people would be interested in consolidation. However, while 30% thought there were benefits to doing so, 43% said they would need further information on the benefits.
Kate Smith continues: “With so many people losing track of a pension it’s perhaps not surprising that 67% of people are interested in consolidation even if they have to track down a pension first. There can be benefits to consolidation as many older-style pensions often have complex or more expensive charges. They are also unlikely to offer access to the new range of pension freedoms or give access online. However, it’s important people take time to understand the pros and cons of consolidation and are clear on whether it’s right for them. This is where professional financial advice will really add value.
“Looking to the future, the launch of a pension dashboard in 2019 should simplify the process of finding lost pensions, and has the additional bonus of seeing all your pensions, including the State pension, in one place. It should also make it simpler to consolidate in future, but people don’t have to wait until then to get their pensions in order. The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) pension tracing service can already help people find lost or forgotten pensions they built up many years ago.”
Get your pensions in order with 4 simple steps:
1. Use the DWP Pensions tracing service to find your pension by entering your old employer’s name which will generate the current contact address. Simply write to this address, with your current and any previous name, current and previous addresses and your National Insurance number.
Go to: www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details
2. Some pension schemes won’t have been updated for some time. To get the contact details you will need to fill out an online form with your name , email address and any information you believe is relevant such as the dates you were at the company and your national insurance number.
3. Get a State pension forecast, either in paper format or online www.gov.uk/check-state-pension
4. And once you’ve tracked down your pensions, get advice before consolidating them to make sure you don’t lose out on any valuable benefits.
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