Final countdown to Punter Southall Aspire’s first ‘National Pension Tracing Day'

The countdown is on to track down your forgotten pension pots

Join National Pension Tracing Day on Sunday 31st October

With only a few days to go until National Pension Tracing Day, Punter Southall Aspire is reminding everyone to use the extra hour when the clocks go back this Sunday to track down forgotten pension pots worth an estimated £19.4 billion.

Founded by Punter Southall Aspire, National Pension Tracing Day is supported by Scottish Widows, Aegon, Legal and General and Standard Life and was created to encourage people to rediscover savings they may have overlooked.

A key factor in why people mislay pensions is changing jobs – on average 11 times in their life - and moving house, typically eight times, but forgetting to tell their pension company about a new employer or address.

To make the task easier, Punter Southall Aspire has launched a website. Tips include retracing old jobs, searching paperwork, checking each pension pot to ensure contact details are correct and researching any gaps in pensions over your lifetime.

Our campaign has been widely welcomed.

Angela Kirkwood, pensions expert at the Money and Pensions Service said:

“Each month, more than 400 people call our government-backed MoneyHelper phoneline to track down their pensions and our impartial team talks them through the steps they need to take, free of charge.

“Our research suggests fewer than half the adults in the UK (45 per cent) say they understand enough to be able to plan their retirement. Tracing forgotten savings is just one way they can prepare for what lies ahead.”

Punter Southall Aspire’s director of communications, Johanna Nelson-Vanner, said:

“When those billions of ‘lost’ pensions are whittled down, it means something like one in 30 people could be reunited with money they didn’t know they had.

“So if I tell 30 people and they tell 30 more and so on, I might help someone find theirs. That’s what this campaign is about. We’ve also been supporting employers and trustees to spread the word with ready-to-go communication toolkits.”

Punter Southall Aspire’s employee benefits managing director, Alan Morahan, added:

“Traditionally, the onus has been on pension schemes to track down people who have lost or forgotten theirs. However, one of the consequences of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) is that it’s harder for organisations to share information with each other, making it more difficult to track down those people.

“National Pension Tracing Day is designed to encourage people to have a go at doing it themselves. It’s easier than people think and what better way to use the extra hour this weekend than to potentially gain a windfall for free.”

[1] https://www.profilepensions.co.uk/blogs/lost-pensions