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Millions of UK pension pots worth nearly £20 billion are thought to be missing, according to the latest research.
A survey carried out by the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI), an independent pensions authority, showed that three million pension arrangements worth £18.7 billion had gone astray. This was mainly down to people changing jobs multiple times and then losing track of their workplace schemes.
The research, which was sponsored by the Money & Pensions Service, showed that lost pension pots are worth on average £6,220. But this figure rose to over £10,000 for savers aged between 55 and 74.
In recent years, automatic enrolment into pensions has been deemed a success story, enabling millions of workers to take their first steps on the retirement planning ladder.
But when people move from one job to another frequently, they often lose track of former pension arrangements and potentially forget about them altogether.
If you mislay information or lose track of a former company scheme, or personal pension, the first port of call should be to contact the provider direct when trying to locate a missing policy. If this proves impossible, for example because of a takeover or change of company name, there are other means at your disposal such as the government-run Pension Tracing Service.
When making enquiries, having your National Insurance number, old employer name, and the name of your pension provider to hand should help to speed up the query.
Tom Selby, public policy director at AJ Bell, said: “While the average pot value might not sound life-changing on its own, £6,000 can make a significant difference to someone’s retirement income. “That figure rises to more than £10,000 among those aged over 55, people who will likely be thinking about retirement in the not-too-distant future. And that is just the average, meaning many will hold much larger sums.”
Applications for Carer’s Credit have soared over the past two decades, but it’s thought that thousands of eligible recipients still miss out on what can be a valuable state benefit.
A Freedom of Information request by the wealth manager Quilter showed that Carer’s Credit applications have risen from 420 in the tax year 2010/11 to 6,770 in 2024/25.
Carer’s Credit is a National Insurance (NI) credit aimed at helping people who provide unpaid care to maintain their state pension record while they are out of the workforce or working reduced hours.
Quilter said its request also showed that more than 35,000 carers have successfully secured the credit over the past 15 years. But it added that, despite growing awareness of the benefit, “take-up appears low compared with the number of people potentially eligible”.
The most recent Census data shows that there are approximately five million carers in England and Wales.
The Carers Trust charity said that the number of people in need of care will rise from 8.4 million in 2025 to 10.3 million in 2050. In turn, this will drive greater numbers away from work and into caring roles.
Quilter said that its FOI request also highlighted the importance of claiming Carer’s Credit promptly. In the past two years, unsuccessful mandatory reconsideration requests where the original decision was upheld tended to be blamed on late applications.
Carer’s Credit can generally be backdated to cover periods in the previous tax year, but carers who wait too long before checking their eligibility may miss the opportunity to secure NI credits from earlier years. Anyone providing regular care is advised to investigate their eligibility as soon as possible, rather than assuming they can claim indefinitely.
Jon Greer, head of retirement policy at Quilter, said: “Time spent out of the workforce can create gaps in a person’s NI record and, if left unchecked, those gaps could ultimately reduce the amount of state pension they receive in retirement.”
Families managing a loved one’s finances could be committing financial abuse without realising it, according to trust and estate planning experts.
Research from STEP, the industry body for family wealth and succession planning professionals, said 87% of practitioners name adult children as the most common perpetrators of financial abuse against their older, vulnerable family members.
Other perpetrators identified by the research included care givers, such as private carers and care homes, and other relatives.
But the findings went on to say that families were often unaware they were doing anything wrong, regularly failing to understand what it meant to be appointed an attorney.
A will is a legal document that sets out what happens to your money, property and possessions in the event of your death. In contrast, a lasting power of attorney, often shortened to LPA, lets you name one, or more, trusted individuals to make decisions about either your finances, or your health and welfare, should you lose mental capacity.
Separate research from STEP has shown that nearly one in ten UK adults believe that providing care to a family member entitles them to a greater share of inheritance.
Molly Miéville-Hawkins, non-member partner at Anthony Gold Solicitors, said: “Attorneys are often family carers doing their best in financial circumstances.
“Some attorneys feel they have earned a share of their parents’ money by providing care, but not realise that covering their own bills, or meeting a grandchild’s school fees during a hard month, can be a form of financial abuse.
“In my experience, such decisions often do not come from a place of dishonesty. Many people simply do not know they have crossed a line."
STEP’s Spot the Signs campaign is a practical guide for families, carers and anyone acting for a vulnerable person, including where to get advice and support.
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