The government’s Pension Tracing Service received 273,709 calls between January 2021 and September 2025 from people keen to trace 'lost' retirement savings. 

The figure was obtained through a Freedom of Information request by investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown.

The firm said: “The lost pension problem continues to loom large.”

HL added that other data suggested the quarter of a million lost pensions figure was “just a drop in the ocean” when it comes to totting up people who have lost track of their pensions.

Research from the Pensions Policy Institute reckons there are 3.3m lost pension pots in the UK. The PPI estimates that lost or forgotten pension pots are worth an average of £9,500 each, which could mean that there is more than £31.1bn of lost retirement savings in total.

Helen Morrissey, head of retirement analysis at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “The incoming Pension Dashboard will make it easier to track down pensions, and the government has plans around the consolidation of small pots.

"All these things will help, but are still some way off in the distance. National Pension Tracing Day can give you the nudge you need to track down these pensions sooner rather than later.”

National Pension Tracing Day takes place on Sunday 26 October and urges people to use the extra hour from the clocks going back to track down any pensions they might have lost contact with. The campaign urges people: “The clocks go back, so you’ve got an extra hour to go on your own pension safari and hunt for lost treasure.”

Ms Morrissey said it’s easy to track down a pension: ”We move between jobs and addresses and all it takes is forgetting to update your contact details and a pension could be lost. It may only be a small one but over time it will grow and can have a huge impact on someone’s retirement.”

She said people should make a list of everywhere they have worked and check to see if they have pension paperwork for them. If they don’t, and people suspect they had a pension with them, they should give the Pension Tracing Helpline a call.

Callers will need either the name of the company they worked for or the pension provider. The service won’t be able to tell people if they have a pension with them but they can give contact details so people can track it down.

She said people may wish to consolidate their pensions into one place, which can save time, admin and cost. But she added that it’s important to check exit fees or the potential to miss out on important benefits such as guaranteed annuity rates, which could be lost if the pension is transferred.

She warned: “It also rarely makes sense to transfer out of a final salary pension.”

National Pension Tracing Day was founded in 2021 with the support of Aegon, Legal & General, Standard Life and Scottish Widows. Further support is now provided by Secondsight, Aviva, Hargreaves Lansdown, Royal London, Smart Pension and People’s Pension.