On average, individuals will work for 11 different employers during their lifetime.<\/p>\n
Consequently, an individual may have several pensions over the course of their working lives and there is always a risk of these pensions becoming lost or forgotten about over time. Keeping track on your pension pot can therefore be difficult, especially as we move towards a paperless world, and it is not uncommon for pensions to become separated from an individual\u2019s estate throughout their lives.<\/p>\n
Individuals\u2019 pensions can be lost throughout time, especially if that individual changes jobs and their address frequently in their lifetime. If individuals forget to tell their pension providers of their new address, they may lose what is rightfully theirs.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year a National Pension Tracing Day took place for the first time ever in the UK in order to help raise awareness of the issue. This was supported by some of the largest pension providers in the UK including Scottish Widows, Aegon, Legal and General and Standard Life.<\/p>\n
According to the DWP, statistic have shown that in 30 years\u2019 time, there may be as many as 50 million lost or dormant pension pots in the UK.<\/p>\n
We have specialist expertise and tracing techniques to help our clients trace lost assets and pensions.<\/p>\n
A case recently came to the firm involving an intestate estate whereby we traced a previously unknown pension fund by obtaining the deceased\u2019s employment records and searching for any occupational pension schemes. The pension fund was worth in excess of \u00a3350,000 resulting in a substantial increase in the value of the assets to be distributed to the beneficiaries of the estate.<\/p>\n