How to find old pensions and take control of your retirement savings

09 July 2025

If you have changed jobs, opened several personal pension accounts, or misplaced important documentation, there is a strong possibility that you may have dormant pension pots.

Millions of people in the UK have unclaimed pensions, with the most recent statistics from the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) valuing the amount at over £31 billion.

This is not uncommon, and to help you locate lost pensions, you can use Pension tracing.

What is pension tracing?

Pension tracing is the process of locating your forgotten pots, so you can bring your retirement savings back into focus and plan ahead with clarity and confidence.

Whether you are starting your retirement planning early or nearing retirement age, taking control of your pension savings can make a meaningful difference to your future. This step also provides the means to consolidate pensions into a central pot – such as consolidating your multiple pots into a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) – if this is the step that is right for you.

With billions of pounds in unclaimed pensions in the UK, it’s important that you have control over all your pension pots, regardless of their size. Thanks to the power of compounding—where returns generate further returns over time—savings made early in life can grow significantly by your retirement.

This is why it is important to trace your lost pensions to see if any old funds left invested have produced returns. These can help you towards your future goals and your retirement income.

Capital at risk

Please be aware that the value of your investments may fall as well as rise. The content of this blog post reflects our current understanding of UK legislation and only impacts those within the UK tax system. Tax treatment depends on personal circumstances, and the rules may be subject to future change.

How do pensions get lost?

Losing track of pensions is surprisingly common, and there are many reasons why it might happen, including:

Changing jobs and not keeping a record of the pension provider
Moving house and forgetting to update your address
Relying on employers to manage the details
Discarding old paperwork you assume is no longer relevant

Without careful record-keeping and visibility over your savings, old pension pots can easily be forgotten. However, even pensions from ten or twenty years ago can still be valuable.

How do I find old pensions?

If you want to know how to find old pensions, there are several practical steps you can take to track down the necessary information:

Search your paperwork: Locate the relevant paperwork, including old payslips, pension statements, or letters from previous pension providers. These might contain contact details or policy numbers.
Contact former employers: Your old employers should be able to confirm the pension provider they used during your time with the company.
Reach out to old colleagues: Speak to any old colleagues who might remember certain details you have forgotten, or still have access to relevant pension documents.
Use the Government pension tracing service: This free service helps you find contact details for workplace or personal pensions, even if the scheme has since changed name or provider.

Once you have the name and contact details of a pension provider, you can reach out to them directly to request details about your pension pot.

What information do I need?

Once you know the provider, it helps to have the following information to hand to help you access your pension pot:

Your plan or policy number (if known)

Your date of birth
Your National Insurance number
Your dates of employment and name of employer (for workplace pensions)

Once you locate your pensions, you may wish to gather the following details:

The current value of the pot
Any contributions made so far
Ongoing charges or fees
Income projections at retirement
Investment holdings

At this stage, a Wealth Planner can help you review your pension pots in detail to gather all the necessary information you will need, once you know where to look. They will also explain your options when it comes to consolidation and retirement planning, and offer the advice you need to align with your overall financial goals and circumstances.

Capital at risk

How to avoid losing future pensions

There are a few things you can do to keep track of your pensions going forward, to ensure you maintain full visibility over your retirement savings:

Review your accounts regularly: Make a habit of regularly checking in on your pension statements or online dashboards to review your investments.
Update your contact details: Notify your pension providers promptly when you move house, change job, or gain new contact details.
Redirect your post: If you have recently moved, use a mail redirection service to catch important pension correspondence and avoid lost documents.
Consider consolidating: Bringing your pots together into a single pension – like a SIPP – can make it easier to manage your retirement savings.

Taking these few steps can improve your organisation and potentially prevent big admin headaches in the future.

What should I do when I have found my pensions?

Once you have tracked down your pensions, the next step is deciding how best to manage them. Many investors choose to consolidate their pensions into one central pot, providing a more straightforward and accessible way of managing retirement savings.

Combining your pensions into a SIPP can:

Make it easier to manage and adjust your investments
Provide a wider range of investment opportunities to build your wealth
Reduce administration and paperwork
Offer a clearer picture of your total retirement savings

However, if you are looking to consolidate your pensions, there are a few key factors to carefully consider before making a decision. This can include any exit fees from your existing providers, the type of schemes you have (like final salary schemes), and whether you will lose any valuable benefits after consolidating.

It is important to speak with a professional Adviser who can assess your pensions and provide tailored advice based on your goals, financial situation, and retirement timeline.

Pensions transfer

Pension transfers can be complex and for some types of pension, you might wish, or be required, to take regulated advice about your options. This is particularly relevant for those with guaranteed benefits, such as defined benefit schemes and any other pensions with safeguarded benefits.

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Combine your pensions with the award-winning Killik & Co SIPP

Whether you are just starting out your retirement planning or nearing retirement age, it is always important to know what pensions you have, where they are, and how much is in each pot. Pension tracing is an essential process if you want to gain the full picture of your retirement savings and make informed strategies to build your wealth effectively for the future.

Pension tracing is a key step in your planning process, particularly when it comes to consolidation. Our Killik & Co SIPP is designed for investors who want greater control, clarity, and flexibility in how they monitor, grow, and access their pension savings. That is why we were awarded Full SIPP Provider of the Year in 2022.

Our award-winning SIPP provides: