More than three million UK pension pots, with an average value of around £6,000, are estimated to be “lost”, according to the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI).
Around 2.5 million lost pots are thought to be held by people aged under 55, according to the research, supported by the Government-backed Money and Pensions Service (MaPS).
Women’s lost pots are slightly lower than those belonging to men, at around £5,370 compared with £6,830, the research indicated.
The average lost pot for people aged under 55 is £5,250 while for those aged 55 to 74 the amount is around double, at £10,710.
Those behind the research said that with National Pensions Tracing Day on October 25, the research highlights the continued scale of the lost pensions challenge.
A lost pension was defined in the research as one where the provider is unable to contact the owner of the pot, with pension providers being approached for information which was used to compile the research.
Dr Suzy Morrissey, deputy director of the Pensions Policy Institute, said: “As the PPI’s new figures show, lost pension pots remain a significant issue for savers, providers and policymakers.”
Oliver Morley, chief executive of the Money and Pensions Service said: “With around 2.5 million lost pensions belonging to people aged under 55, there is a need to ensure no one is missing savings for the retirement they want.
“The MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard being developed by MaPS, expected to launch in financial year 2027-28, will help tackle this problem.
“As well as a single overview of pensions in one place, a dashboard will show pensions that people may have lost touch with.
“While this is only part of the important work to ensure people have the retirement savings they need, it is a vital part of making planning for later life easier.”
Tom Selby, public policy director at AJ Bell, said: “Automatic enrolment has been one of the great public policy successes of recent decades, ensuring millions of employees are building at least some level of pension savings for retirement.
“But as people move jobs throughout their working lives, they often leave old workplace pensions behind, and over time it’s easy to lose track of them.”
Mr Selby added: “While the average pot value may not sound life-changing on its own, £6,000 can make a significant difference to someone’s retirement income.
“That figure rises to £10,000 among those aged over 55 – people who will likely be thinking about retirement in the not-too-distant future – and that is just an average, meaning many will hold much larger forgotten sums.”
He said customers using AJ Bell’s own pension-finding tool have tracked down accounts worth an average of £18,500 when adding up the combined value of pots found by each individual customer, “while some have used the service to find and combine pots worth over £1 million”.
Mr Selby said: “Combining pensions isn’t necessarily the right move for everyone and savers should take the time to shop around for the right provider, taking into account factors such as charges, choice, flexibility and service.
“Some older-style pensions can have valuable guarantees attached that will be lost on transfer, so checking whether this is the case is also crucial.
“For those who aren’t sure, it may be worth speaking to a financial adviser or reading up free resources like those on Money Helper.
“Whether you ultimately decide to combine pensions or not, the first step is to get a handle on what you’ve got and where it is invested.”
Mr Selby said services such as the Pension Tracing Service and pension finding tools can already help to reunite people with lost pension pots.