UK households warned three million pension pots are 'lost' containing £9,400 each

UK households have been urged to come forward for a "forgotten" £9,470. The total value of ‘lost’ pension pots is now estimated to be £31.1bn, new data published by the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) reveals. This has risen by £4.5bn, from £26.6bn in 2022.

Almost 3.3 million pension pots are now considered lost, containing an average sum of £9,470. Rachel Vahey, head of public policy at AJ Bell, said: “Automatic enrolment is often held to be one of the most successful public policies of our time.

“It is credited with enrolling over 11 million people into a workplace pension since 2012, creating many new pension savers. But with people switching jobs regularly – around 11 times over the course of a lifetime according to some estimates – it’s easy to see how some people end up losing track of the pension pots they have built up.

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She said that lost pension wealth hitting £31.1bn, means “millions of people could be in danger of facing an incomplete picture when it comes to their long-term financial planning”. “Knowing how much they have saved in a pension, and where that money is invested, is one of the most important steps savers can take to maintain a level of control over their future retirement,” she added.

“Only by having this overall picture can pension savers work out how close they are to achieving their financial goals, and what action they may need to take to get their desired income and standard of living in later life. The government is on the road to helping people achieve this. Pension Dashboards, once launched, will allow savers to see all their pensions in one place online, reuniting them with their lost pension wealth.

“But while we wait eagerly for dashboards to launch, there are important steps people can take today to track down their lost pensions and boost the overall value of their pension savings.”