Dashboard wanted to track down 1.6 million lost pensions

on behalf of the ABI by the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI). The PPI surveyed firms representing about 50 per cent of the private defined contribution (DC) pensions market. The survey found 800,000 lost pensions worthanestimated£9.7bn.

The PPI estimates if scaled up to the whole market, there are collectively around 1.6 million pots worth £19.4bn unclaimed – the equivalent of nearly £13,000 a pot.

The ABI said the overall lost pensions figure is likely to be even higher as the research did not look into lost pensions held in the public sector or with trustbased schemes.

More than 375,000 attempts were made last year to contact customers, leading to £1bn in assets being reunited with them.

But the ABI said with people often moving around, a pensions dashboard that would enable people to see all their pensions in one place online is now more important than ever. The pensions industry has been working on the development of a dashboard.

The average person will have around 11 different jobs over their lifetime.

Yvonne Braun, the ABI’S director of long-term savings, said: “These findings highlight the jaw-dropping scale of the lost pensions problem. Unclaimed pensions can make a real difference to millions of savers who have simply lost touch with their pension providers.” People can use the Pension Tracing Service to track down lost pensions at www.gov.uk/findpension-contact-details.