Tilney said its research further revealed that the main reason people lost track of a pension pot was due to a lack of interest, “lost paperwork” or they had “forgotten to notify providers of address changes”.
“Of those who have moved home, 13% admit they have never notified their pension providers of their change of address and a further 12% confess they are unsure.
“When asked how they would go about finding a lost pension, [32%] would contact their previous employer but a fifth said they would have no idea how to find it,” a Tilney spokesperson said.
The number of people losing track of their pensions is exacerbated by changes in the employment market with few people now sticking to one job for life, meaning most end up with multiple pension plans, according to Tilney.
According to Tilney’s research, the average person has worked for 5.8 employers by the time they are over five. This is set to rise significantly however, as 18 to 34-year-olds have already had, on average, over four jobs.
Projections by the Department for Work & Pensions estimate that the average person will have 11 employers over their working lives.
The Tilney spokesperson said one solution to address people losing tracks of their pensions is consolidation.
“This allows for simpler administration and oversight and the pension could then be taken from job to job, providing the employer agrees to pay into the scheme instead of their own.
“Most individuals (72%) have never consolidated plans and the key reasons people are they’ve never thought about it (23%) and don’t know how (20%),” the spokesperson said.
Andy James, head of retirement planning at Tilney, said: “One place to start when trying to track down missing pension is the UK Government’s pensions tracing service.
“This is an online database which provides current contact details for past and present pension schemes and it therefore requires the individual to know the name of their former employer, pension scheme or provider,” James said.
