One man has shared how he has managed to boost his finances by £7,000 after discovering three lost savings pots.
According to an analysis published by the charity the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) in November 2024, around 3.3million pension pots – worth a collective £31billion – are considered “lost” in the UK. Graham, from the Shetland Isles in Scotland, was one of those millions not too long ago.
The 46-year-old told the Mirror that he was aware of his pension pots, although he knew that some were missing as he had a number of different jobs throughout his life. He said: “I left school at 16, because I just wanted to make some money. I didn’t have any qualifications, and where I was living, there were a lot of manual jobs, so I ended up working in a salmon factory.
“After this, I moved on to working on building sites, and after being made redundant in 2010, I got a job at the local authority council. So I’ve had a few jobs since I was 16, and I was aware of pensions, but I wasn’t aware of how many I was signing up for. So I would start a job, start another pension, and leave a job. That’s just what happened.”
After a personal family incident, Graham knew he needed to get on top of his finances and look into his pensions as his savings were a “bit chaotic”. After seeing an advert on social media last year, the dad-of-three decided to use the pension-tracing service Penny to do it, thinking: “I’ll give this a go and see what comes up.”
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Penny helps people find their lost savings pots and offers plans and pension investment options that can be managed through its app. The service charges a 0.75% fee per year on the value of the pension, which is called the Annual Management Charge (AMC). This fee falls within the Workplace Pension charge cap of 0.75%. In 2024, Penny tracked down over 35,000 lost pension plans with an overall value of £191million.
You can track down your lost pension pots yourself for free by contacting ex-employers and digging out old paperwork. The Government also has a free Pension Tracing Service tool. This service allows you to enter the name of an employer, so you can find the contact details of the pension provider they use.
Graham had already come across one of his “lost” pension pots a few years ago after being tracked down by the pension provider Standard Life. This pension pot, in particular, had £6,000 sat in it, and because of this, he knew the probability of having others he wasn’t aware of was “quite high”.
After a few weeks, Penny did manage to find two more lost pension pots for Graham which added an extra £1,000 to his retirement savings. He explained: “I got a notification on my phone one day from the Penny app on my phone so I just went in a checked and there it was, it was a good feeling, a very good feeling.”
Graham noted that retirement was a “long way off” for him as, under current government plans, he will be able to claim his state pension at age 68. However, he notes that the extra cash will help him provide some security for his kids. He added: “You know, If i have a big pension pot when I retire than that’s good, but if something does happen to me and I pass away beforehand, it will bit a big help for them.”
“It’s not a huge sum of money, but it’s extra money for me, and this pot is going to build, and the balance will increase over time, so in 10, 20 years time, it will be at least a bit more than it is now. I mean, it could potentially go towards a house for my kids; it’s just so hard for them to save any money right now.”
Graham noted that it was important that others out there take into their pensions, considering the monumental amount that is currently considered lost in the UK. “There’s nothing to lose, but there’s something to gain,” Graham added. In March last year, the 46-year-old managed to consolidate his pension pots into the one he now controls and manages through the Penny app which works for him.
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