'Lost' Pension Fund Values Now Worth £31.1bn

The Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) has revealed in its latest report that an estimated £31.1bn of pension funds are ‘lost’ i.e., the public as pension scheme members have lost track of where their pensions are or have forgotten or are not aware they have built up a pension fund with a particular employer.

The last report in 2022 estimated that £26.6bn was ‘lost’ and at £31.1bn today, that’s an increase of £4.5bn.  That’s a staggering 16.91% increase in just 2 years.

Lost Pension Facts:

Some estimate that people move jobs up to 11 times during their working lives although we suggest it is usually nearer the 7 times mark.

Given workplace pensions and ‘auto-enrolment’ most people are automatically enrolled in their new employer’s pension scheme meaning, art 7-11 jobs during lifetime, they build up many ‘small pot’ funds in different places.

The average lost pot is £9,470 rising to £13,620 for people aged over 55.

Comment - Solutions for Lost Pots

The Government offers a free Pension Tracing Service https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details

Pension Dashboard ( an online dashboard that all pension providers will be required to sign up to) will link all pensions in the name of a specific individual based upon their name(s) (and previous names), date of birth and national insurance number.  All your pensions’ details will be viewable in one place.

Pension Dashboards have been in the process of construction both commercially and via the Government for a number of years now but the launch date keeps getting delayed.  Just the week, Pensions Minister Emma Reynolds committed again to the funding and early delivery of a pension dashboard even if commercial dashboards are not ready to launch.

Automatic Consolidation is another area that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been working on.  With the working proposal that when you leave a job, if your pension is worth £1,000 or less it will be consolidated into 1 main pot.  This will eliminate people not even bothering to keep track of say a pension pot worth a few hundred pounds but also, but consistent consolidation, the combined pot will build up in value.  All for the good of the public and not pension fund managers sitting on £31bn of ‘orphaned’ assets.