£37 billion in pension funds currently unclaimed
07 January 2020
Research suggests that there is £37 billion in pension funds that is currently unclaimed, which means that nearly a quarter of adults in the UK who are under the age of 55 will miss out on some of their retirement income.
The study from advice firm, Profile Pensions suggests that there are approximately 1.6 million pension pots missing, each holding an average value of £23,000. Out of 2,096 under 55s included in the research, 24% confirmed that they had lost track of at least one of their pensions, with higher response rates (29%) observed in individuals aged between 25 and 34. A further 10% confessed that they would be uncertain about their ability to locate all of their pension pots.
Studies such as these highlight the importance of the incoming pensions dashboards, as they will serve to minimise the issue of missing pension pots and will display all of an individual’s pensions and their corresponding figures in one place, alongside information relating to their state pension. This should allow workers to prepare accordingly for their futures and to give them some idea of what their retirement will look like and how much they will have to spend.
The most common scenario in which pension pots are lost is when people move home but fail to notify their pension provider. This means that providers cannot supply pension holders with pension documents and annual statements. Government research shows that the average number of times that an individual moves to a new house is eight in a lifetime – a figure that is only expected to grow as more and more people choose to rent instead of buying properties. Auto-enrolment means that workers can potentially hold pensions with every company they have worked for, and with people working an average of 11 jobs during their lives, that is a substantial number of pension pots to monitor.
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