It’s all a blur! Pension tracing
01 June 2026It is rare these days to see an individual who has stayed with the same employer for the whole of their working life. Even if they have, the employer may have changed pension arrangements over the years, and a good example of this is the closure of many final salary schemes in favour of defined contribution / money purchase arrangements.
For those who have moved employer from time to time, keeping track of old deferred pension schemes might bring challenges. And for those who have moved around a lot, it might all have become a bit of a blur as to what they have tucked away. Tracing old pension benefits can often be achieved at no cost, and we have detailed a couple of free services below.
The value of funds available to many may not seem as high as hoped for and this can in itself be demotivating. We are normally advocates (where checked and considered) of maintaining a range of separate pension and investment plans to avoid the potential risk of 'all eggs in one basket’. Of course, there are many TV / media adverts which advocate the one pot route.
Usually, it's a range of sources that brings the overall retirement income and capital together, possibly in combination with a spouse or partner.
This might include:
- Auto-enrolment / workplace pension savings: virtually every company is now obliged to offer a workplace pension scheme. However, it is worth noting that many schemes operate minimum contribution levels, so plan values may not be high
- Old employer pension schemes: many people have more than one employer over their working lives. If you think you have an old scheme but have lost it, there is a free pension tracing service available from the government here: https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details
- In addition to this free service, MoneyHelper also offers some helpful guidance here: https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/pension-problems/tracing-and-finding-lost-pensions
- Personal pensions, stakeholder pensions, SIPPs and the like
- State Pension: you can check your forecast here: https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension
- Part-time / consultancy work (if you plan to phase your way into retirement)
- Your own accumulated savings (we would normally advocate maintaining 3-6 months’ income as ready capital, even in retirement)
- Redundancy payment (The first £30,000 is usually paid tax free)
- Inheritance (although long term care costs are seeing this source of capital reduce for some and you also need to take into account inheritance tax charges. In our experience, not normally a reliable source of future funds)
These are only examples, and some of these sources are likely to be more certain than others. In addition, we would normally advocate entering retirement mortgage and debt free if possible.
It is important to start your pension planning process early in looking forward to when you might want to access pension benefits. Above all be prepared, either to manage expectations on what you might get, but most importantly to get the most from the sources that you know about…or may have forgotten about.
As with all our topical commentary, no individual advice is provided during this blog. The team at Chapters Financial will be happy to help you with your own enquiry about how to plan your pension benefits looking forward.
Keith Churchouse FPFS
Director
CFP Chartered FCSI
Chartered Financial Planner
Chapters Financial Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, number 402899.
