How do I find old pensions?

Chartered Financial Planner explaining how to find old pensions in the UK and trace lost workplace pension schemes.

In the UK, it’s common for people to lose track of workplace pensions, especially if jobs were changed frequently or schemes were renamed or merged.

Behind this question is often a mixture of concern and uncertainty:

Have I forgotten something valuable?
Could there be money sitting somewhere unclaimed?
Where do I even start looking?
What if the company no longer exists?

Finding old pensions is usually possible. It simply requires a methodical approach.

Why pensions get lost

Pensions are rarely “lost” in the sense of disappearing.

More often, they are:

Left with previous employers
Renamed after provider mergers
Forgotten after career changes
Attached to outdated contact details

Over time, paperwork disappears and login details are forgotten.

The pension itself typically still exists.

Step 1 — Make a list of previous employers

Start by listing:

Every employer you worked for
Approximate dates of employment
Whether it was full-time, part-time, or contract work

Even approximate dates can help narrow down which scheme you may have joined.

Older paper payslips, P60s, or employment contracts can provide clues.

Step 2 — Use the government’s Pension Tracing Service

The UK Government provides a free Pension Tracing Service.

It does not tell you the value of your pension, but it can:

Identify pension scheme contact details
Help locate the provider associated with an employer

You will usually need the employer’s name and some basic personal details.

This is often the simplest starting point.

Step 3 — Contact pension providers directly

Once you identify a scheme, contact the provider and request:

Confirmation of your pension
Current value
Details of benefits or guarantees

You may need to provide:

National Insurance number
Previous addresses
Date of birth

Providers are used to these requests.

Step 4 — Check for small pension pots

If you changed jobs frequently, you may have accumulated several smaller pension pots.

Even modest amounts can grow significantly over time.

For example:

A £8,000 pension pot left invested for 20 years
Growing at 4% annually
Could exceed £17,000

Small pensions are easy to overlook, but not necessarily insignificant.

What if the employer no longer exists?

If a company has closed, its pension scheme usually still has a successor administrator or provider.

The Pension Tracing Service can often help identify where records are now held.

Pensions do not disappear simply because a business closes.

The behavioural reality

Often the hardest part is not the tracing process.

It is starting.

Many people delay because:

It feels administrative and dull
They assume the amounts are small
They worry about complexity

But uncertainty often creates more discomfort than clarity.

Finding your pensions does not commit you to making changes.