Martin Lewis has urged Brits over the age of 40 to check for lost pensions, revealing that more than £30 billion in pension money remains unclaimed across the UK. The average forgotten pot is worth just under £10,000, according to the MoneySavingExpert founder.
Why Pensions Get Lost
In a clip shared on his official TikTok from the Martin Lewis Money Show Pensions Special on ITVX, Lewis explained how easy it is to lose track of a pension. A house move, a marriage, a job change, or even a pension provider being renamed can all lead to forgotten savings.
He recalled one individual who discovered £45,000 in a lost pension. "I have to tell you, we were impressed in the studio when that number came up, £45,000, weren't you? There was a bit of a whoo-whoo went on in here, and it is really worth it," he said.
The Scale of the Problem
Lewis shared a striking statistic: "There's over £30 billion, £30,000 million pounds of pensions are thought to be lost, an average of just under £10,000 each." He added that many people fail to update contact details after moving house or changing name due to marriage. Changing jobs and forgetting about a pension is also common, as is a pension provider merging or being renamed.
How to Find Lost Pensions
Martin outlined a simple, free process to track down missing pensions. He advised starting with old paperwork: "Dig out your old paperwork and try contacting your old employers first."
If that fails, the next step is the Pension Tracing Service on gov.uk. "It contains 200,000 pension schemes. Really good, especially if you'd look at your old pension scheme, it doesn't exist anymore. Who's taken on its assets? Where's it gone?" He explained that the service helps find the new provider, and then individuals can contact the pension firm to reconnect, requiring ID.
For those still stuck or unable to remember details, Lewis recommended Gretel.co.uk. "It will go onto your credit files, do a soft search, that means it doesn't affect your credit score, in common parlance, and will match your old address to any lost assets like bank accounts, shares and pensions."
Surge in Searches
SEO expert AI SEO analysed Google search trends and found a 230 per cent-plus surge in searches for 'find lost pension', meaning significantly more people are now actively looking for ways to retrieve their lost retirement funds. Lewis specifically directed his advice at those in their 40s, 50s and 60s who have worked at lots of different firms.
"This is massively worth doing. You might have a £45,000 pension out there. In fact, one guy's had over £100,000 of pension he found. It is worth a check," Martin added.
