Pension savers urged to track down missing £26bn

The campaign, which this year features Timmy Mallett, a children's TV presenter and broadcaster, is coordinated by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA).

It is funded by a large proportion of the pensions industry and is in partnership with Pensions Awareness Week and National Pension Tracing Day.

Timmy Mallett will be reviving his famous Mallet Pinky Punky to help reunite people with the estimated £26.6bn sat in lost pensions across the UK.

Pensions playback

Mallett, campaign ambassador, said: “I suspect people in their thirties often think about their pension and feel they don’t need to engage, assuming it’s something to address as you approach stopping work.

"But trust me, careers aren’t linear, and you might wake up one morning and suddenly you're 55 and you go, crikey, what happened there? Doing the pensions playback’ and taking the simple steps to identify where you are on your pension journey will ultimately mean you’re setting yourself up as best as you can for the future.”

Hetty Hughes, manager of long term savings policy at the ABI, said it was hoping to use nostalgia as a tool to encourage people to track down their pensions.

Hughes said: “we’re hoping to engage more people in their current, and past, pensions so they know how their money is building for the future and what they need to do to achieve their retirement goals. The Pensions Playback shows just how easy it can be to pay your pension some attention.”

Pension industry pulling together

Joe Dabrowski, deputy director of Policy, PLSA added: “As an industry, we have an important role in lifting savers’ understanding and confidence in their pensions. By coming together under a single, brand-agnostic umbrella to promote simple and memorable messages, we can build on the success of last year’s campaign and continue to increase saver engagement in pensions.”

Standard Life is also encouraging savers to look at the benefits and pension package, as well as salary, when they are offered a new job. Standard Life said changing jobs was an ideal focus point for people to pay their pension some attention.

The pensions provider said someone that began working full-time at a company with a salary of £25,000 per year and paying the standard monthly auto-enrolment contributions - five per cent employee, three percent employer - from age of 22, would amass a total retirement fund of £459,000 at the age of 66 not taking inflation into account.

If they were to join a company on the same salary but with a more generous company pension scheme that paid an additional two per cent - so five per cent from  employee and five per cent from the employer from the age of 22, they would accumulate £574,000 by the age of 66, or £115,000 more than the standard contributions would achieve.

Standard Life claimed if company was to contribute even more, for example eight per cent from the age of 22, a pension pot of £747,000 would be achieved – £288,000 more than standard contributions would. 

Contribution level and potential total retirement fund

Gail Izat, managing director for workplace at Standard Life said: “These days, unless you work in the public sector, you’re very unlikely to have a defined benefit pension offering a guaranteed payment in retirement."

"Instead, your eventual pension pot will depend on how much you and your employer pay in throughout your career, as well as your investment returns. Crucially, workplace pension packages can massively differ, and it’s therefore important to understand what your employer is offering when deciding whether to start a new job. Our analysis shows that even a small increase in monthly pension contributions from your employer can have an extremely significant impact over the course of a career. 

 “Of course, there are many factors to consider when accepting a job offer, including salary, but it’s good to see your pension as part of the decision-making process. It’s worth taking time to understand the short- and long-term impact on both your monthly income and pension savings, so you can weigh up what’s best for your individual circumstances.”