Brits urged to check for £9,500 pension windfall in less than ten minutes | Personal Finance | Finance
Pensioners have been reminded they could be due payments averaging £9,500 and checking could take less than 10 minutes. Fresh research indicates it could take just over seven minutes on average to begin the process of locating a forgotten pension pot that may be valued at thousands of pounds.
The study, conducted for the Pension Attention campaign, was published before national pension tracing day on Sunday October 26.
The timed trial, involving 400 participants, discovered it took an average of seven minutes and 29 seconds to use the UK Government’s pension tracing service to locate an old pension.
According to the Daily Record, forgotten pensions were classified as those that had been overlooked or pensions that individuals knew existed but couldn’t locate, making them challenging to claim during retirement.
The UK Government’s “find pension contact details” online platform was utilised, with only participants whose employer appeared on the website being asked to proceed with the trial.
Volunteers recorded the time it took to access the UK Government website, locate their provider’s contact information and make initial contact via telephone or post.
Forgotten pensions can be valued at an average of £9,500 each, according to campaign organisers. Mark Smith, a representative for the Pension Attention campaign, has advised: “With just a few minutes, you can give your savings a real boost by visiting pensionattention.co.uk and use the pension tracing tool to reconnect with forgotten pots and follow our tips to better understand your pension.
“You might also find it helpful to think back to past jobs, check through old paperwork and fill in any gaps in your pension history. Don’t forget to update your provider with your current details so you stay connected to your savings for the future.”
The Pension Attention campaign is a joint effort by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and Pensions UK, with financial backing from companies within the pensions industry.
Helen Morrissey, who heads up retirement analysis at Hargreaves Lansdown, commented: “The lost pension problem continues to loom large, with a recent FOI (freedom of information request) showing the Government’s pension tracing service fielded around 274,000 calls in just under five years.
“Providing contact details for employers and providers will have helped thousands of people reunite with pensions they lost track of years ago. It’s a quick call that can leave you thousands of pounds better-off in retirement.
“However, data suggests this is just a drop in the ocean, with the Pensions Policy Institute estimating there could be as many as 3.3 million lost pensions out there. This is all money that can make a significant improvement to people’s lifestyles in retirement and could be the difference between struggling to make ends meet and being able to enjoy your golden years.”
Ms Morrissey explained that the pensions dashboard, which will enable people to view all their pension pots in one location, will make it simpler to trace missing pensions.
For those seeking to locate a lost pension, she recommended: “Make a list of everywhere you have worked and check to see if you have pension paperwork for them.
“If you don’t, and you suspect you had a pension with them, then give the pension tracing helpline a call. You will need either the name of the company you worked for or the pension provider. The service won’t be able to tell you if you have a pension with them but they can give you contact details so you can track it down.
“Once you’ve tracked down your pensions, you may wish to consolidate them into one place. This can save you time, admin and even cost. It’s important to compare your old provider with what your new one can offer you.
“What are the fees like? What kind of investment choice is on offer and what support is available to you? Having one overarching view of what you have can transform your retirement planning as you will view one larger pension in a different way to several small ones which you may be tempted to cash in and spend.
“However, before you take the plunge, it’s really important to check that you won’t be incurring expensive exit fees by transferring out. Another thing to be careful of is the potential to miss out on important benefits such as guaranteed annuity rates, which could be lost if the pension is transferred.”
For further details, visit the Government website here.
