Finding a lost workplace pension

If you worked somewhere years ago and cannot remember what happened to the pension, start with the GOV.UK Pension Tracing Service. It gives you contact details for the scheme, but it cannot say whether you have a pension or what it is worth. You need to know the name of an employer or pension provider to use it, so start by working out who you worked for.

What the service does

The online service is on GOV.UK, and you can search for your own workplace or personal pension, or for someone else’s if you have their permission. You can also ask for contact details by phone or post. The page says, “Use this service to find contact details to search for a lost pension.” It does not tell you whether you have a pension, and it does not value it. Once you have the contact details, you write or call the scheme and ask.

GOV.UK does not say whether the phone line is free, but it links to call charge information. The contact details are:

• Phone from the UK: 0800 731 0175
• Phone from abroad: +44 (0)191 218 7777
• Open weekdays, 10am to 3pm
• Relay UK: dial 18001, then 0800 731 0175
• Post: The Pension Service, Post Handling Site A, Wolverhampton, WV98 1AF

Working out who to search for

You need a name to put in. Old payslips, a P60, a contract, an offer letter or the benefits page of an old staff handbook all help. For public sector jobs, think about the scheme as well as the employer. Hospital and community NHS jobs usually mean the NHS Pension Scheme. Council and school support staff jobs usually mean the Local Government Pension Scheme, and teaching in a state school the Teachers’ Pension Scheme. Employers change names, merge or close, and that is when the tracing service helps.

Using the scheme’s own routes

Some public sector schemes will have been writing to you already. LGPS pension funds must give every active and deferred member a statement by 31 August each year. For a deferred member it shows the value of the pension with cost of living increases added. If you did not get one, or it was not made available online, the LGPS member site says to contact your fund and ask why. Pensioners are not sent statements. The guide to LGPS leaving and deferred pensions explains what happens when you leave.

NHS Pensions says deferred members can go to NHS Pensions directly for an estimate. Moving old pots together is a separate question, covered in the pension transfer guide.

Do not forget the State Pension

The State Pension is separate from any workplace pension, so a trace for old employers will not turn it up. The GOV.UK forecast covers it, and the guide to getting a pension forecast lists the ways to check it.

What to ask the scheme

When you reach the right scheme, a few questions get a clear answer.

• Do you hold a pension record in my name?
• Which section or scheme is it in?
• What is the pension worth, and from what age can I claim it?
• What address do you hold for me?

For a defined benefit scheme such as the NHS or LGPS, a deferred pension is not lost money. It is waiting under the scheme’s rules.