How to Find Your Lost Pensions

There’s around a staggering £31.1 billion sitting in lost or forgotten pension pots, according to data from Pensions UK!

That’s because since 2012, employers are required to automatically enrol employees into a workplace pension if they meet certain criteria.

So a portion of your income is automatically taken out of your salary and put into a pension fund on your behalf.

Unless you specifically opt out, there’s a chance that you have had a pension for every job that you’ve held since auto-enrolment came in.

The good news is that there’s a simple way to track down pension pots you might have lost touch with.

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By Brean Horne
Published: May 20, 2026
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Last Update: 2 weeks ago
3 min read

Why Pensions Go Missing

There’s billions of pounds sitting in lost or forgotten pension pots in the UK.

Careers have evolved over time and recent government estimates show that people have around 11 jobs in their lifetime. This increases the chances of losing touch with a workplace pension scheme.

Other reasons why pensions go missing include companies merging or shutting down completely.

Sometimes if you move home or change your name (say if you get married) you might lose contact with your pension provider too.

Other reasons why pensions go missing include companies merging or shutting down completely.

Sometimes if you move home or change your name (say if you get married) you might lose contact with your pension provider too.

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Track Down Your Lost Pensions

We’ve partnered with Gretel, the fastest and easiest pension tracing service in the UK, to help you find your missing pots. It’s free and takes just a few minutes.

Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Lost Pensions

1. Gather key documents
Getting a hold of your National Insurance (NI) number, old employer names and address and where possible previous pension providers can help simplify the search process.

Checking old work contracts and emails could help you find these details too.

If you’re missing any details, try contacting the HR department at your old company for more information.

2. Use a free pension finder
Investing Insiders has partnered up with Gretel to provide a free Pension Tracing service.

You’ll just need to create an account and follow the step-by-step registration process.

Once you’re registered, Gretel runs an extensive search for any pension pots in your name.

3. Contact the pension company
You’ll need to contact the pension companies to claim your pension pot.

Some pension finding services provide a unique reference number for your pension.

However, if one wasn’t available, the pension company can help you find yours. And you may need to supply additional information or evidence to confirm your employment at the time.

4. Consider combining your pots
In some cases, it might help to combine certain pension pots together to make them easier to manage and reduce the impact of fees on your return.

However, it won’t be the case for everyone. If you’re unsure about the right step for you, consider speaking with an expert advisor.

You might be eligible for a consultation through your work, so it’s worth checking with HR to see if you’re entitled to speak with a professional.

5. Update your contact details
Whether you decide to keep your pensions separate, combine them, be sure to update the contact details in the accounts you found so that you receive updates from the provider.