Updated: September 2026
Changed jobs several times over the years? Moved house and stopped receiving pension statements? Or perhaps you vaguely remember paying into a workplace pension 20 years ago but have no idea where it is now.
You could have retirement savings you’ve simply lost track of.
The good news is that an old pension does not normally disappear just because you’ve forgotten about it, moved house or your former employer has closed.
And you don’t necessarily need to pay anyone to find it.
Quick answer: To find a pension from an old job, start by contacting your former employer. If you don’t know the pension provider, use the free GOV.UK Pension Tracing Service. It can help you find the current contact details for the pension scheme, but it cannot tell you whether you definitely have a pension or how much it is worth.
Below, we’ll take you through the process step by step.
In this guide
- How to find an old workplace pension
- What the Pension Tracing Service can and can’t do
- Finding pensions with your National Insurance number
- What to do if your old employer has closed
- How to check whether you ever had a pension
- What to do once you’ve found an old pension
- Whether you should combine old pensions
- What pensions dashboards could change
Can you really lose a pension?
Usually, you haven’t actually “lost” the money.
What you’ve lost is contact with the company or pension scheme looking after it.
Think about how much can change during a working life. You might:
- change jobs several times
- move house
- change your name
- lose old paperwork
- change email address
- forget the name of a pension provider
- work for a company that later closes
- have a pension provider merge with another company
Meanwhile, a pension you stopped contributing to many years ago may still be sitting there.
For a defined contribution pension, the money may also have remained invested during that time.
The problem is that if your pension provider doesn’t have your current contact details, statements may stop reaching you and eventually you may forget the pension exists.
Is it worth looking for an old pension?
Yes.
A forgotten pension might be relatively small, but it could also contain thousands of pounds that will eventually contribute towards your retirement.
And the longer your working history, the easier it is to accumulate several pension pots.
If you’re starting to plan seriously for retirement, tracking down all your pensions should be one of your first jobs.
You can then put them alongside your savings, investments and expected State Pension to get a much clearer picture of your finances.
Our Retirement Fund Calculator can help you estimate how long your retirement savings could last based on your pension pot, spending, investment growth and inflation.
How to find an old pension: step by step
You don’t need to solve everything at once.
Start with your employment history and work through it methodically.
Step 1: Make a list of your previous employers
Write down every company or organisation you remember working for.
For each employer, note:
- company name
- approximate dates you worked there
- where you worked
- your job title
- whether you remember pension deductions from your salary
- any pension company or scheme name you remember
Don’t immediately dismiss a job because you were only there for a relatively short period.
Historical pension rules have changed over the years, so whether you retained pension benefits can depend on when you worked there and the particular pension scheme.
An old CV can make this job considerably easier.
You can also search old emails, tax documents, payslips and employment contracts to reconstruct your employment history.
Step 2: Search your old paperwork and emails
Before trying to trace anything, see what information you already have.
Look for:
- annual pension statements
- old payslips
- P45s and P60s
- employment contracts
- pension welcome packs
- letters from pension companies
- old financial statements
- emails from employers or pension providers
Try searching your email accounts for terms such as pension, workplace pension, retirement, annual statement and the names of previous employers.
Even an old email containing the pension provider’s name can be enough to get you started.
Step 3: Contact your former employer
If the employer still exists, try contacting its HR or payroll department.
You aren’t necessarily asking the employer to find your money.
What you really want to know is:
Which pension scheme did you use while I worked there?
Give them as much information as possible, including your full name, any previous name, approximate dates of employment and an old employee or payroll number if you still have one.
Once you know the name of the pension scheme or provider, you can contact it directly.
Step 4: Use the free GOV.UK Pension Tracing Service
If you can’t identify the pension provider, use the Government’s Pension Tracing Service.
Use the free Pension Tracing Service on GOV.UK
You can search using:
- an employer’s name
- a workplace pension scheme name
- a personal pension provider
There is no charge for using the official service.
What does the Pension Tracing Service actually do?
There is an important misunderstanding worth clearing up.
The Pension Tracing Service does not search a giant Government database and produce something like:
“We found three pensions worth £47,350.”
It doesn’t tell you whether you definitely have a pension with a particular scheme.
It doesn’t tell you how much your pension is worth either.
Instead, it helps you find the current contact details for a pension scheme or provider.
You then contact that organisation and ask it to check its records.
GOV.UK specifically states that the Pension Tracing Service cannot tell you whether you have a pension or what its value is.
That makes the service slightly less magical than its name might suggest, but it is still an extremely useful and completely free starting point.
Step 5: Contact the pension provider
Once you’ve identified a likely provider, contact it and explain that you’re trying to locate an old pension.
The provider may ask for information such as:
- your full name
- previous names
- date of birth
- National Insurance number
- current address
- previous addresses
- dates you worked for the employer
- approximate date you joined the pension
- pension or policy number, if you know it
You may also need to provide identification.
Don’t worry if you don’t know everything. Give the provider as much information as you reasonably can.
What if I don’t even know whether I had a workplace pension?
This is particularly relevant if you’re trying to remember jobs from many years ago.
Don’t assume that because you had a job, you must have had a workplace pension.
Automatic enrolment into workplace pensions only began rolling out in the UK in 2012, initially for the largest employers, before being extended gradually to other employers.
Before automatic enrolment, whether you joined an employer’s pension scheme depended on the scheme and circumstances at the time.
If you’re unsure, contact the former employer and ask:
- Did you operate a pension scheme while I worked there?
- Would someone in my position have been eligible to join?
- Which pension provider administered the scheme?
- Who should I contact to check whether I was a member?
If the employer no longer exists, try searching its name through the Pension Tracing Service.
It’s worth checking rather than relying on a 20-year-old memory.
Can I find all my pensions using my National Insurance number?
Your National Insurance number can be extremely useful when a pension provider is trying to match you with an old record.
But there isn’t currently a GOV.UK service where you simply enter your National Insurance number and instantly receive a complete list of every workplace and private pension you’ve ever held.
The Pension Tracing Service generally needs the name of an employer or pension provider to start the search.
Your National Insurance number can then help the provider establish whether an old pension belongs to you.
Be cautious if you find commercial websites promising to “find all your pensions using your NI number”.
Check who is behind the service, what information you’re providing and how the company makes money before handing over personal or financial information.
What if my old employer no longer exists?
Don’t assume the pension disappeared when the company did.
Pension schemes are separate from the normal day-to-day finances of an employer.
Depending on the type of pension and what happened to the company, responsibility for the pension may have moved to another organisation.
Start by searching the old employer’s name through the Government’s Pension Tracing Service.
For some defined benefit pension schemes where an employer became insolvent, the scheme may also have entered the Pension Protection Fund.
Check the Pension Protection Fund if you think this could apply to an old defined benefit pension.
What if the pension company has changed its name?
This is very common with older pensions.
UK pension and insurance companies have merged, rebranded and been acquired numerous times over the years.
The company named on a pension statement from 1998 may therefore no longer exist under that name.
That doesn’t mean your pension has disappeared.
Try the old provider’s name through the Pension Tracing Service, which may be able to point you towards the organisation now responsible for the scheme.
MoneyHelper also provides useful independent guidance on tracking down old pensions and pension providers.
Read MoneyHelper’s guide to tracing lost pensions
What if I can’t remember all my old employers?
Start with whatever you can remember.
Useful places to look include:
- old CVs
- P45s and P60s
- payslips
- old bank statements
- employment contracts
- emails
- tax records
You don’t need a perfect employment history before you begin.
Finding one old pension is already progress.
What about NHS, Civil Service, teachers and Armed Forces pensions?
Several major public-sector pension schemes have their own administrators.
If you’re looking for a pension from the:
- NHS
- Civil Service
- teaching profession
- UK Armed Forces
you may be able to go directly to the relevant pension scheme.
The GOV.UK Pension Tracing Service page provides links to the relevant services for these public-sector pensions.
Is the Pension Tracing Service free?
Yes.
The official UK Government Pension Tracing Service is completely free to use.
You don’t need to pay a private company simply to access the Government’s pension scheme contact information.
That doesn’t mean every commercial pension tracing service is a scam. Some companies legitimately offer to do more of the administrative work for you.
But understand how they make money.
A company might ultimately want you to:
- transfer your pension to its platform
- combine several pensions with it
- pay for financial advice
- pay ongoing investment or management fees
Finding a pension and deciding what to do with it are two separate decisions.
Don’t feel pressured to transfer a pension simply because a company helped you locate it.
Watch out for pension scams
Lost pensions are unfortunately an attractive subject for scammers because people searching for them may be expecting contact from unfamiliar financial companies.
Be cautious if someone contacts you unexpectedly and:
- claims to have found a pension you didn’t know about
- pressures you to transfer quickly
- promises unusually high investment returns
- asks you to move your pension into an unfamiliar investment
- asks for sensitive information without adequately establishing who they are
If you’re unsure, stop and verify the company independently.
Read our guide to how to avoid scams targeting retirees for more warning signs and practical ways to protect yourself.
You’ve found an old pension. What should you ask?
Don’t stop at finding the provider.
Ask for an up-to-date pension statement and establish exactly what you have.
Useful questions include:
- What is my pension currently worth?
- Is it a defined contribution or defined benefit pension?
- What charges am I paying?
- Where is the money invested?
- Does the pension contain guarantees?
- Do I have a protected pension age?
- Is any tax-free cash protected?
- What options will I have when I retire?
- Who is nominated to receive the pension if I die?
- What would I lose if I transferred the pension?
That final question is particularly important.
Should I combine my old pensions?
Finding three, four or five old pension pots can immediately make consolidation look attractive.
One pension is certainly easier to keep track of than five.
But don’t automatically transfer everything into one account.
Some older pensions contain valuable benefits or guarantees that could disappear permanently if you transfer them.
These might include:
- guaranteed annuity rates
- protected pension ages
- protected tax-free cash
- investment guarantees
- valuable defined benefits
- particularly low charges
Compare the old pension with the pension you’re considering moving it to.
A newer pension isn’t automatically a better pension.
If your pensions are complicated or contain guarantees, this is also one of the situations where professional financial advice can be useful.
Read our guide: Do you need a financial advisor for retirement planning? Pros and cons.
What if you’re approaching retirement?
This is when finding all your pensions becomes particularly important.
Before deciding whether you can afford to stop working, you need a realistic picture of the income and assets available to you.
That means bringing together:
- workplace pensions
- personal pensions
- your State Pension
- ISAs
- savings
- investments
- other expected retirement income
Our Ultimate Retirement Checklist takes you through the wider financial and practical jobs worth considering before you retire.
You can also read How Much Money Do You Need to Retire Comfortably in the UK? to put your pension savings into the context of your expected retirement spending.
Don’t forget your State Pension
Your State Pension works differently from workplace and personal pension pots.
You don’t use the Pension Tracing Service to find it.
Instead, use the Government’s State Pension forecast service.
Check your State Pension forecast on GOV.UK
It can show you:
- how much State Pension you could receive
- when you can receive it
- whether you may be able to increase it
We also have a guide to understanding the UK State Pension, including qualifying years and how State Pension fits into your wider retirement income.
When you’re working out what retirement might look like financially, check your State Pension at the same time as tracking down private pensions.
What about the new pensions dashboards?
You may have heard about pensions dashboards, a major UK project designed to make it easier for people to find and view pension information in one place.
Pension providers and schemes are currently connecting to the pensions dashboards ecosystem, with schemes in scope required to connect by 31 October 2026.
The intention is that people will eventually be able to see information about multiple pensions together through authorised dashboard services.
That should make the problem of lost pensions easier to tackle in future.
However, if you’re looking for an old pension now, there is no reason to wait.
Use the Pension Tracing Service and contact providers directly.
Create your own pension record once you’ve found them
Once you’ve gone to the effort of tracing your pensions, make sure you don’t lose them again.
Create a simple pension list containing:
- provider name
- pension or policy number
- provider contact details
- approximate value
- pension type
- beneficiary nomination status
Keep it somewhere secure and review it periodically.
You should also tell pension providers whenever you change your:
- home address
- email address
- phone number
- name
Don’t store account passwords in an unsecured pension document.
This simple record can also make things considerably easier for your family if they ever need to deal with your finances after your death.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find a pension from an old job?
Start by contacting your former employer to find out which pension scheme it used while you worked there.
If you can’t identify the scheme, use the free GOV.UK Pension Tracing Service to find current contact details for the employer’s pension scheme.
Can HMRC tell me all the pensions I have?
There isn’t currently an HMRC service that provides a complete list of all your workplace and personal pensions.
The Government directs people looking for old pensions to the Pension Tracing Service.
Can I find an old pension with my National Insurance number?
Your National Insurance number can help a pension provider identify you, but you can’t currently enter it into the Government Pension Tracing Service and receive a complete list of your pensions.
You’ll generally need an employer, scheme or provider name to begin the search.
Does the Pension Tracing Service tell me how much my pension is worth?
No.
The service helps you find pension scheme contact details.
It cannot confirm whether you have a pension with that scheme or tell you how much it is worth.
You’ll need to contact the pension provider for that information.
What happens to my workplace pension when I leave a job?
For most modern workplace pensions, leaving your job doesn’t mean losing the pension you’ve already built up.
Contributions through that employer normally stop, but the pension remains with the scheme unless you subsequently transfer or access it.
Historical pension rules can differ, particularly for people who left schemes many years ago.
Is it worth tracing a small pension?
Yes.
You can’t make an informed decision about your retirement finances until you know what pensions you have.
A pension you remember as being small may also have remained invested for many years.
How long does it take to trace an old pension?
Finding the likely provider can sometimes take only a few minutes.
Confirming that it actually holds a pension for you can take longer because the provider may need to search historical records and verify your identity.
Cases involving old companies, mergers or name changes can take considerably longer.
Your lost pension checklist
If you’ve been putting this job off, start with these five steps:
- Write down every previous employer you can remember.
- Search your emails and paperwork for pension statements.
- Contact former employers that still exist.
- Use the free GOV.UK Pension Tracing Service for schemes you can’t identify.
- Contact the pension providers and request up-to-date information about anything you find.
Then add those pensions to your wider retirement plan.
If you’ve discovered more retirement savings than you expected, our guide to how to maximise your retirement income can help you think about pensions, savings and other income together.
Final thoughts
If you’ve had several jobs during your career, losing track of a workplace pension is surprisingly easy.
But losing the paperwork doesn’t mean you’ve lost the money.
Start with your employment history, check your old records, contact former employers and use the Government’s free Pension Tracing Service when you need help identifying a scheme.
Once you find a pension, resist the temptation to immediately move it.
First establish what it’s worth, what you’re paying, what benefits it contains and whether you would lose anything valuable by transferring it.
And if you’re approaching retirement, use the opportunity to get all your pensions, savings and State Pension information together.
Knowing exactly what you have is one of the simplest ways to make better retirement decisions.
This article is for general information only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Pension and tax rules can change, and their effect depends on your individual circumstances.
Official and useful sources
- GOV.UK: Pension Tracing Service
- GOV.UK: Check your State Pension forecast
- MoneyHelper: Tracing and finding lost pensions
- Pension Protection Fund
