New research by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has found that some 1.6 million pension pots have been misplaced by UK savers, worth an estimated total of £19.4bn.
It’s believed UK savers have accumulated pension pots but failed to claim them, possibly because they forgot they existed.
The figure means an average of £13,000 per pension pot has gone unclaimed by savers.
It’s understood that pension providers spend millions of pounds every year to track down savers in a effort to help reunite them with their pension pots.
Yvonne Braun, ABI’s director of long-term savings and protection, said:
“Unclaimed pensions can make a real difference to millions of savers who have simply lost touch with their pension providers.
“The industry has stepped up its efforts to re-connect savers with their lost nest eggs, developing a new framework launched earlier this year to help pension providers trace ‘gone-away’ customers more consistently.”
According to figures, in 2017 £1bn in assets was returned to savers after 375,000 attempts were made to contact them.