What difference could finding a ‘lost’ pension plan make to your retirement?

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How much more money might you get in retirement if you track down a ‘lost’ pension plan?

How can you ‘lose’ a pension plan?

Each time you change employer, they’ll usually set up a new pension plan for you. And if you have more than one pension plan to your name, it’s easy to lose track of them. If your contact details change and you don’t let your providers know, they might find it tricky to keep in touch with you. Over time, you might forget about your older plans.

How much are lost plans usually worth?

On average, a lost pension plan in the UK is worth £9,470. For people aged 55-75, that average jumps to £13,620. 

Your lost plans – if you have any – could be worth more or less than these averages. It depends on how much was paid into them. And because money in a pension plan is invested, it also depends on investment performance. The value of a pension can go down as well as up and you could get back less than was paid in.

We can help you track down lost pension plans

We can help you find your lost pensions for free with just a few details from you.

You can then think about bringing them together through what’s called a pension transfer. We won’t charge you to do this, although your other providers might charge an exit fee. And we’ll get in touch with your old providers for you, so you don’t need to do any of the heavy lifting.

Having everything in one place can make things easier to track and manage, plus it could help you cut back on admin and even the amount of fees you pay. 

Keep in mind there’s no guarantee that you’ll get more as a result of transferring, and it may not be right for everyone. You could lose money by giving up any guarantees or benefits you might get from your other pension plans. 

Feeling unsure? You can get free impartial pensions guidance on MoneyHelper. Or you can seek financial advice from a financial adviser (MoneyHelper has information about finding a financial adviser).  

And remember, making sure your contact details are up to date on your pensions can help you keep tabs on them. If you’re a Standard Life customer, you can do this online or through our app. For more information about our online services, you can visit our website. For FAQs and ways to get in touch, check our contact and support page.

Want to learn more about how you can find your lost plans and how you could easily bring them together with Standard Life? You can visit our website.

Find and transfer plans

How much of a difference could finding a lost plan make?

Every penny counts in retirement. According to the Retirement Living Standards (by the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association), a person could need £31,300 per year for a ‘moderate’ standard of living. Plus, your pension savings might need to last for decades.

Here are some examples to show how finding a lost pension could help you. Remember, you can usually start taking your pension savings from age 55, rising to 57 from 6 April 2028. 

Example 1:

Robert is 66 years old and intends to use £100,000 from his current pension plan to buy an annuity – a product that gives you a guaranteed income for life. 

Then he tracks down a plan from an old job. It’s worth £13,620. 

Robert decides to bring his pension plans together and buys an annuity with £113,620. The annuity gives him an income of £8,818 a year for the rest of his life. 

If he hadn’t tracked down that extra money, his annuity might’ve only given him £7,754 a year. That’s a difference of more than £1,000 annually.* 

*Figures assume retirement at the age of 66, single-life annuity, no guarantee, paid monthly in arrears, not increasing, non-smoker with no underlying health conditions. Based on calculations made on 9 May 2025. Calculations done using MoneyHelper’s annuity comparison tool. 

Example 2:

Sarah’s currently paying into a pension plan.

 One day, she tracks down an older, smaller plan that’s worth £9,470. 

As she’s 55, there are different ways she could take the money from that old plan.

Sarah recently took out a loan for an emergency car repair and wants to tackle that debt. 

Her old pension plan is worth less than £10,000, so she chooses to take the whole thing as a lump sum under ‘small pot rules’. One benefit of small pot rules is that Sarah can avoid triggering something called the ‘Money Purchase Annual Allowance’. Triggering this reduces the amount of money you can pay in across your plans without facing a tax charge.

She uses the lump sum from her old pension plan for her debt, and she can leave the money in her newer plan invested until she’s ready to take it. (Remember, she could’ve done other things with her old plan instead, including combining it with her newer plan.)

Example 3:

Laura’s 39. She’s paying into a pension plan worth £25,000. 

She uses a pension calculator and finds that she’s on track to get around £10,700 a year from her pension plan if she retires at 68. This doesn’t include her State Pension.

But then she hunts down an old plan worth the average of £9,470. 

Laura brings her two plans together and uses the pension calculator again. She learns she could now be on track for £11,900 a year.** 

She can’t take any of her money yet. But by locating her lost plan, she has a clearer idea of how much she’s currently got in pension savings and how much she might have in the future. 

**Our calculation uses Standard Life’s pension calculator and assumes Laura has a current salary of £30,000, that she pays the minimum of 5% into her workplace plan and her employer pays 3%. For more details on the assumptions we’ve used, see our pension calculator. You can also check how much you might have in future based on your own circumstances.

Remember...

The above examples are for illustrative purposes only.

There are various ways you can take your pension savings when the time comes, and you can even go for a combination of different options. You can usually also take 25% of each of your plans tax free (normally £268,275 is the most you can take tax free across all your plans).

Tracking down a lost plan could help you cover the costs of your essentials in retirement, or it might even be money you could put towards things like your hobbies or a holiday. So if you’re not sure where your plans are, it is worth trying to find them. 

 

The information here is based on our understanding in May 2025 and shouldn’t be taken as financial advice.

Your own personal circumstances, including where you live in the UK, will have an impact on the tax you pay. Laws and tax rules may change in the future.

Standard Life accepts no responsibility for information on external websites. These are provided for general information.