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New way to find missing pension pots launches today - as millions left unclaimed

Its estimated that there are 3.3 million lost pension pots in the UK, worth a combined total of 31.1 billion

[Senior caucasian woman checking pension documents, loan, e-banking, doing paperwork with laptop, mortgage, paying domestic bills at home]

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It's easy for pensions to become lost of forgotten(Image: RealPeopleGroup via Getty Images)

Scottish Widows has launched a new tool to help people to track down lost pension pots.

Its estimated that there are 3.3 million lost pension pots in the UK, worth a combined total of 31.1 billion.

Some of the most common reasons why pension pots become lost or forgotten include changing jobs often, or not updating your paperwork when you change address.

Scottish Widows has partnered with fintech partner The Pension Lab to launch a new service through its app.

Once logged into the app, customers enter their National Insurance number and other data if known, such as previous employers, who the pension was with and the years it was active.

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The customer then needs to digitally sign a letter of authority to enable The Pension Lab to contact providers on their behalf.

Once the system has found the pension pots, customers can then either leave their pots where they are, or decide to condsolidate them.

Always seek free pension advice first before making any big changes about your pension pots. You can get free guidance on your retirement savings options from MoneyHelper.

Chira Barua, CEO at Scottish Widows, said: Too many people are going into later life without a clear picture of what they have saved, simply because their pensions are scattered across different jobs and providers.

"With millions of pots sitting unclaimed across the UK, helping people reconnect with their savings is an important first step in improving retirement outcomes.

Weve made pension tracing simple and accessible, to make bringing pensions together in one place as easy as possible so that people can properly understand their future finances and take control of them.

Reaching one million app users is a clear signal that customers want straightforward, digital ways to manage their money, and were continuing to invest in digital and AI tools that remove friction and make pensions easier to engage with.

"By combining innovation with practical support, were helping more people turn good intentions into meaningful action.

Other ways to trace your pension pots

There is a free Government tool called the Pension Tracing Service that can help you track down lost pensions. You need to provide your previous employment details and then the Pension Tracing Service will tell you the contact details of a provider.

It won't give you details of how much you have invested. You would need to contact the pension administrator yourself to find out if you have any funds with them.

The will also be a new pensions dashboard tool, which will let people see all their pension information in one place. All schemes must be connected to the dashboard by October 31, 2026.

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