Holly covers personal finance topics from credit cards to wills. She enjoys turning complex money matters into clear, practical advice.
There are currently around 3m lost pensions in the UK, with the average pot estimated to contain around £6,000, according to new research from the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI).
But what if you can't find a pension you thought you had? Or conversely, how do you know to look for a pension you never thought existed?
Here, three Which? writers share their experiences of trying to track down – or in one case, being tracked down by – their pensions.
There are currently 3m ‘lost’ pension pots – ones where the provider isn’t able to contact the owner of the pot – according to research published this month by the PPI.
This is partly down to how the UK pensions system works. Thanks to automatic enrolment, most people are now signed up to a pension scheme by their employer. Many of us will accumulate multiple pots as we move between jobs, making it much harder to keep tabs on all of them.
Most lost pensions belong to people under 55. The PPI notes that lost pension pots are a particular concern for young savers, who are more likely to work in multiple jobs or fixed-term contracts, and move away.
This table shows the number of lost pensions and average size by age group.
| Age group | Number of lost pensions (2026) | Average lost pension size |
|---|---|---|
| Under 55 | 2,460,070 | £5,250 |
| 55-74 | 536,220 | £10,710 |
| 75+ | 8,080 | £3,340 |
| All | 3,004,370 | £6,220 |
Source: Pension Policy Institute. Number of lost defined contribution pensions based on survey of pension providers.
If you think you’ve lost a pension, there are several steps you can take to track it down, including contacting your old employer, using the government’s tracing service or using a third-party tool.
Which? pensions expert Paul Davies has deployed all three in his attempt to work out whether one of his workplace pensions even existed in the first place.
‘Back in the late 1990s, I worked for a company called Consolidated Financial Insurance (CFI) for a couple of years. I assumed I had a pension, but I can’t really remember. Maybe the bonuses chucked out at the time were in place of a pension.
'I’ve tried again to find a definitive answer. I do remember that CFI was the result of the merger of two companies – Consolidated and Financial Insurance, which were both part of the GE Capital group. The government’s pension tracing service produced an address in York for Financial Insurance, and I’ve put all the details into Aviva’s Find and Combine tool.
'So I’ll send a letter to York and await an answer from Aviva. I probably wasn’t that organised at the time I worked for CFI. The advice is to keep all relevant paperwork, which I seemingly ignored in the face of numerous house moves.’
Whether you’re unsure if you have enough to retire, or are already accessing your savings, our money guidance service can talk you through your options. Which? Money members get unlimited access to them via phone.
Find out moreIn some cases, like Paul's, you may not be certain that you had a pension in the first place. If your search doesn’t bear any fruit, there could be several reasons a pension doesn't exist.
Thanks to auto-enrolment, 82% of all employees in Great Britain now save into a workplace pension.
But these rules only came into force in 2012, meaning your employer may not have signed you up for a pension for jobs you held in the past.
According to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), only 47% of all employees were paying into a workplace pension when auto-enrolment came into effect.
Under current rules, your employer must set up a pension for you if you’re over 22 and earn at least £10,000 a year, so you may not have had a pension, depending on your age or earnings.
The Pensions Commission is currently considering widening access to automatic enrolment criteria in order to improve retirement outcomes. Which? has recommended removing the £10,000 earnings trigger and introducing additional measures to support people on low incomes.
If you opted out of the pension scheme, for example to free up more money for daily living expenses, you won’t have a pension.
According to the DWP, there has been a small uptick in opting out in recent years, with around one in 10 new pension savers opting out in 2025-26.
You may have paid into a pension while working but had your contributions refunded when you left the job. According to MoneyHelper, you may have received a pension refund if:
Automatic enrolment only applies to employees, so if you did freelance work for a company or were self-employed, you won’t have paid into a workplace pension.
Which? has called for the introduction of a frictionless pension option for self-employed people, as saving for retirement is much harder. There’s no default pension option as there is for employees, and irregular earnings can make it difficult to commit to regular saving.
Holly Lanyon, Which? pensions researcher, says:
When I set out to find all my pensions earlier this year, I followed the advice to list all your previous employers and dig out any relevant paperwork.
After rummaging through my chaotic ring binder of old letters, birthday cards and paperwork, I had the name of my pension provider for every job but one – a small charity I worked for in 2016.
I was pretty confident I'd be able to find my pension. I don’t remember opting out and, given the timing, I assumed auto-enrolment rules applied.
A former colleague gave me the name of the provider, but when I plugged my details into its website, there was no record. Aviva’s Find and Combine search brought back nothing.
My best guess now is that automatic enrolment wasn't in place yet. While it was first introduced in 2012, it was phased in over five years, only becoming mandatory for small employers between 2015 and 2017.
While I probably have my definitive answer, I've contacted my old employer just to be sure.
Pension providers have always had some responsibility to keep accurate information about you.
But the PPI notes that schemes may be doing more than ever to actively trace lost members, in order to meet the data requirements for pension dashboards.
Pension dashboards, which are expected to launch sometime in 2027-28, will bring all savers’ pension information together in one place, hopefully making it much easier to keep track of your pots in the future.
Pension providers have until the end of this month to connect their records to the scheme. Currently, around 90% of records are connected to the scheme, expected to rise to 96% by the deadline.
In the meantime, make sure your details are up to date with all your providers, and keep hold of any relevant information and paperwork. This includes the name of your provider and employers, your policy numbers and whether you opted out or paused contributions for a period.
If your pension provider loses touch with you, they may use credit reference agencies or tracing services to find your current details.
But Which? pensions expert Ruby Flanagan was wary when she was contacted seemingly out of the blue.
'In my early twenties, I worked a chaotic string of odd jobs and routinely opted out of workplace pensions, convinced I was better off with the cash in hand.
'Across four years, I kept receiving letters from Scottish Widows claiming I had a pension with them. I stubbornly ignored them as an obvious scam, but they kept coming – even after I moved three times!
'I finally decided to investigate and called the number on Scottish Widows' official website (there was no way I was trusting the number in the letter). To my surprise, it was completely genuine.
'Since I had zero policy details, I had to navigate a barrage of security questions before we worked out where it came from: a zero-hours bartending gig back in 2019.
'The pot originally held £90, but had quietly grown to £130. I’ve since consolidated my pensions into one place, so I'm now finally on top of them!'
Cold calling about pensions is illegal, so be careful if you receive an unexpected call, message or email about your pension. Don't rely on information or contact details provided by the person who contacted you.
Instead, contact your provider directly via official channels, like Ruby did.
Select the option that best describes your current situation.
