The £31 Billion Problem: Lost and Forgotten UK Pensions

Across the UK, more than £31 billion in pension savings are sitting unclaimed — money that workers have earned but never recovered. This growing issue has been fuelled by frequent job changes and the rise of automatic enrolment, which quietly places employees into workplace pension schemes.

Automatic enrolment has been widely praised as one of the government’s most successful financial initiatives. When the scheme launched in 2012, employees collectively saved £87 billion into workplace pensions. A decade later, that number had climbed to £115 billion. Participation among women doubled, as did the number of younger savers aged 22–29 — a genuine step forward in long-term financial planning.

However, the same simplicity that makes auto-enrolment work can also cause people to lose track of their pensions when they move to new employers. Over time, many of these small pots are left behind and forgotten.

According to the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, the value of unclaimed pensions has risen by 60% since 2018, with roughly 3.3 million lost pots now scattered across the UK. Each one holds an average of £9,470 — not life-changing individually, but collectively a massive pool of untapped retirement wealth.

The message is clear: saving more means little if those savings are left behind.

Why Combining Pensions Matters

Consolidating multiple pensions into one plan can make your retirement strategy far easier to manage. With everything in one place, you gain a clearer view of your total savings, reduce paperwork, and may even lower overall fees. In many cases, combining pensions also opens access to a wider range of investment opportunities and more flexible options for drawdown.

How We Help You Find Lost Pensions

At Renascence, we specialise in tracing and consolidating UK pensions for clients around the world. Our process is thorough, precise, and fully compliant with UK and U.S. regulatory standards.

Here’s how we approach it:

1. Identify your pension history – We begin by reviewing your career timeline and employer list to determine where pension entitlements may exist. Old payslips, P45s, P60s, or employment contracts often provide useful clues.

2. Contact previous employers – We reach out directly to your former employers to request pension scheme details and confirm whether benefits remain in your name.

3. Use the Government’s Pension Tracing Service – If information is incomplete or employers are no longer active, we use official tracing tools to locate the pension provider.

4. Verify pension details and values – Once identified, we obtain up-to-date statements and confirm plan values and conditions.

   
   

After your pensions are located, we’ll help you decide whether to consolidate them into a single, compliant structure — ensuring your retirement savings are both visible and working efficiently for you.

If you’ve ever lived or worked in the UK and suspect you may have left a pension behind, we can help you find it, recover it, and bring it under proper management.