How to find a lost or forgotten pension

To find a lost pension, list your past employers, use the GOV.UK Pension Tracing Service for contact details, then ask each provider.

Tracing an old pot is something you can do yourself, using official services and the schemes themselves; the steps are below. Once a pot turns up, the questions change. MoneyHelper says a free Pension Wise appointment explains the options for taking money from your defined contribution pension, and that it is impartial and backed by government; what Pension Wise is covers who can book one. If you would like what you find weighed against the rest of your retirement plans by an FCA-authorised adviser, the place to ask is the form on this page.

This guide covers the GOV.UK, MoneyHelper and Pension Protection Fund services for UK pensions. For an NHS or civil service pension, see finding a lost NHS pension and finding a lost civil service pension.

Start with a list of every job and every pension you set up

MoneyHelper's guide to finding old pensions starts with a list: "Start by listing all the employers you’ve had. Even if you were not there long, it’s still worth checking if you’re entitled to anything. If you set up your own pension scheme, like a personal pension, add that too." (MoneyHelper, How to find old or lost pensions, archived copy of 8 December 2025.)

The same guide says to cross an employer off only if you are certain you "did not have a pension set up there, or" you "have already received a refund of your pension money".

Then look for the paperwork. MoneyHelper suggests you "check old paperwork for details of your pension scheme, including the provider or administrator – most pension schemes will send you a statement every year". GOV.UK says the same about workplace schemes: "Your pension provider will send you a statement each year to tell you how much is in your pension pot." (GOV.UK, Workplace pensions: Managing your pension.) And if you were automatically enrolled, your employer had to write to you, and the letter had to say what type of pension scheme it was and who runs it (GOV.UK, Joining a workplace pension). Any letter or statement with a provider's name on it gives you something to look up.

An old pot does not disappear when you stop paying in. Your workplace pension still belongs to you: if you do not carry on paying into the scheme, the money will remain invested and you will get a pension when you reach the scheme's pension age (GOV.UK, Changing jobs and taking leave). The catch, in MoneyHelper's words: "If you’ve lost touch with a pension provider, they will not know how to pay you when you retire."

What the GOV.UK Pension Tracing Service does, and what it does not

Online, the Pension Tracing Service is GOV.UK's Find pension contact details service. GOV.UK describes it this way: "Use this service to find contact details to search for a lost pension." You can look up "your own workplace or personal pension scheme" or "someone else’s scheme if you have their permission". (GOV.UK, Find pension contact details, accessed 18 October 2026.)

Two limits matter, and both are in GOV.UK's own words:

This service will not tell you whether you have a pension, or what its value is.
You need the name of an employer or a pension provider to use this service.

— GOV.UK, Find pension contact details, accessed 18 October 2026

So the service gives you a contact route for a scheme; it is not a search across all your pensions, and it will not show a balance. That is why the list of employers comes first: without a name, there is nothing to look up. Contacting the scheme is then up to you.

GOV.UK adds: "You can also request contact details from the Pension Tracing Service by phone or by post." As for cost, DWP's announcement of the current website in May 2016 called the Pension Tracing Service "a free service" (GOV.UK, New Pension Tracing Service website launched); more on that in is the Pension Tracing Service free?

Contacting the scheme, including one that was taken over or went bust

Whether you write or phone, give the scheme enough to find you. MoneyHelper says "Your pension provider will need as much information as possible in order to match you to a pension. They might ask for:" your National Insurance Number, "previous names and addresses", "the dates you worked for the company" and "when you think the pension was set up."

Where you have no provider name at all, MoneyHelper suggests you "contact your previous employers or ask old colleagues for the pension provider’s name". Once a provider does find you, the advice is to check your details: "If the pension provider finds a record for you, check they have your correct contact details. This means they can send you annual statements and other important information, like whether you’re paying any fees." Providers also change names and merge, and for that case the advice is: "If you’re struggling to find your pension provider’s contact details, check if they’re listed on the Association of British Insurers’ website", which "will show you who to contact if your pension provider has a new name, has been taken over or merged."

For an employer that has gone bust, MoneyHelper says: "If your old employer has gone bust, check if they appear on the Pension Protection Fund’s list of schemes". What that means is set out by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) itself: "When your employer becomes insolvent, and your defined benefit pension scheme transfers into the PPF, you become a PPF member." As a member, "you’ll receive pension payments from us rather than a pension from your former scheme." (PPF, What it means to be a member of the PPF, accessed 18 October 2026.)

The PPF also runs the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS). Its page says the FAS "provides financial assistance payments to members of defined benefit pension schemes who lost all or part of their pension following their scheme coming to an end between 1 January 1997 and 5 April 2005", and that "Unlike the PPF, the FAS doesn't take on any new members". The same page adds: "If you believe you should be a FAS member but you’ve not been contacted by us, please get in touch with the Pension Tracing Service." (PPF, What being a FAS member means, accessed 18 October 2026.) Both pages concern defined benefit schemes; final salary pensions explains the basics.

Once the replies come in, you may hold statements for several pots, perhaps one that promises a set income. Setting them side by side with your State Pension and your plans is work an FCA-authorised adviser does. Being introduced costs you nothing; you can ask for one using the form on this page.

Your State Pension, and pensions dashboards

The State Pension is checked separately: GOV.UK's Check your State Pension forecast service gives your own amount and the date you can get it. How it is built and claimed is in the UK State Pension guide, and an older additional State Pension in finding a lost SERPS pension.

Pensions dashboards are meant to bring all of this together. Among the aims in DWP's guidance on connecting schemes (updated 6 August 2025): "Pensions dashboards will also reunite savers with lost or forgotten pensions." The Pensions Dashboards Programme is the official place to check when you can use one, and what the pensions dashboard is explains how it is meant to work. Until then, the steps above are the route.

Unexpected offers to find your pensions

If someone you did not contact offers to find or review your pensions, the FCA's warnings apply. On cold calls, its advice is to hang up if you get a call out of the blue about your pension, which it calls illegal and probably a scam. It also says a scam is likely if you are offered a free pension review you did not ask for, and that professional advice on pensions is not free. It warns that some scammers may even say they are acting on behalf of the FCA or MoneyHelper, and its advice on choosing help is to use a firm the FCA has authorised, never one that made the first contact. To check an approach, the FCA says "Call us on 0800 111 6768 or use our contact form to get in touch." (FCA, Pension scams, last updated 19/01/2026.)

MoneyHelper's own warning about impersonation: "Have you been contacted by someone claiming to be from the Money and Pensions Service or MoneyHelper, offering unexpected services or asking for a fee? If so, it's a scam. We’ll never contact you out of the blue or charge anyone for our services." (MoneyHelper, Pension safeguarding, archived copy of 19 January 2025.)

A provider you have identified yourself, by name, from your own paperwork, is a different matter: contacting your own old scheme is the ordinary route. More on how scams work and how to report one is in our pension scams guide, and on the checks a scheme makes before a transfer in transfer rules and red flags.

Questions people ask about finding a lost pension

Can I find a lost pension with my National Insurance number?

Not through the GOV.UK service, which works from an employer's or provider's name. The number helps at the next stage: MoneyHelper lists it among the details a provider may use to match you to a record.

How much is my lost pension worth?

The tracing service cannot tell you; the scheme holding the pension can. Once it has matched you to a record it can send you statements, and for a workplace pension GOV.UK says the yearly statement tells you "how much is in your pension pot".

Can I have more than one pension at the same time?

Yes. GOV.UK says you can join another workplace pension scheme if you get a new job, and that you might be able to carry on paying into the old one or combine the old and new pension schemes. Combining is a choice, not something that happens by itself; see whether to merge pensions.

How do I trace the pension of someone who has died?

The GOV.UK service is for your own pensions or someone else's scheme "if you have their permission". Tracing after a death has its own guide: finding the pensions of someone who has died.

How do I find a lost pension with a named provider such as Aviva, Standard Life or Scottish Widows?

The route is the same. Give the provider the details above and ask whether it holds a record for you. If the provider has changed its name or been taken over, MoneyHelper points to the Association of British Insurers' website, and you can use the GOV.UK service with the name you remember. Our guides to Scottish Widows, Royal London and Legal & General cover what happens if you later want to move a pot.

Your next step

Start with the list of employers and the GOV.UK service, and keep what each provider sends you. Finding a pot does not oblige you to do anything with it; GOV.UK's advice after a job change is "Ask your pension providers about your options." If you do think about moving one, how to transfer a pension sets out the steps, what it costs to transfer or combine pensions covers exit charges and lost benefits, and should I combine my pensions? weighs it up.

Once the pots are found and you want a second pair of eyes on them, someone from an FCA-authorised adviser firm can ring or write back when the form on this page reaches them; the advice itself is the adviser's, not this site's. Leaving a pension where it is remains an option.

Sources, accessed 18 October 2026: GOV.UK, Find pension contact details; GOV.UK, Check your State Pension forecast; GOV.UK, Workplace pensions; DWP, New Pension Tracing Service website launched (9 May 2016); MoneyHelper, How to find old or lost pensions, Pension Wise and Pension safeguarding (archived copies); DWP, Pensions dashboards: guidance on connection; Pension Protection Fund, PPF and FAS member pages; FCA, Pension scams.