You may be one of the millions of people who previously worked in the UK and built up some form of pension benefits. Now that you’re overseas, you have possibly forgotten about that little pension pot, or just lost track of it through the moving process.
Most UK pension providers only send annual statements through the post, so It is easy to lose track of your pension savings, especially if you’ve moved abroad and no longer have a UK address.
If you had a few small pensions from various jobs then these can be even more difficult to keep track of.
According to the UK Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), there is currently an estimated £400 million in unclaimed pension savings.
You may think that you only worked in the UK for a short while so you won’t have much in your pension. However, your monthly contributions mixed with compound interest growth can mean you have more in your pension that you thought. Have a look at the example below.
Let’s assume you worked in the UK for three years from 2005 to 2008. During this time, both you and your employer each paid £150 per month into your pension. This would mean that over three years, a total of £10,800 was paid into your pension.
In 2008 you moved overseas and forgot all about this small pension.
Over the following 10 years, assuming a simple growth rate of 7% per year, this could now be worth over £21,000.
How do you find a lost pension?
Contact your old employer
If the pension was set up through your employer, the first thing you should do is contact that employer and ask them for details of their pension scheme provider. You should let them know the dates you worked there in case they have changed the pension provider since you left.
Speak to old work colleagues
In the modern days of connectivity, you may have old work colleagues that you have kept in touch with on Facebook. If they are still in the UK, they are likely to know who the pension scheme is with and may be able to provide the contact details for the pension scheme administrator.
The free Government tool
The Pension Tracing Service is a free service that enables people to search a database of more than 320,000 pension scheme contact details. You can submit your details online and they will try and match you with their database on pension scheme contacts. You will need to have your National Insurance number, previous UK addresses and dates of employment to hand. Find pension scheme details
What to do once you find your lost pension
Once you find the details of your UK pension, you should request a statement of benefits which will tell you the important details, such as the value of your pension, where it is invested and the charges that you are paying.
➤ Why MyExpatSIPP has the ideal UK Pension solution for non-UK residents
If you have a number of small pensions, you should consider consolidating them into one easy to manage, low cost pension. MyExpatSIPP is a pension plan that lets you can manage your pension online to make sure it doesn’t get lost again. It is designed especially for expats, so we don’t send anything in the post, everything is stored online, and communications are made through email and telephone.
If you have a pension in the UK, we can help you to find your money. Please get in touch.