# How to trace a lost pension and what pensions dashboards will change

> Changing jobs and moving house can leave pension pots forgotten. This guide explains how the free Pension Tracing Service works, what it cannot tell…

- URL: https://centiview.com/uk-money/how-to-trace-a-lost-pension-and-what-dashboards-change
- Published: 2026-10-21T10:16:00.000Z
- Figures checked: 2026-10-21
- Edited by David A
- Topic: Pensions (UK)
- Publisher: Centiview (Persie Ltd, London)
- General information only, not financial advice

Changing jobs and moving house can leave pension pots forgotten. This guide explains how the free Pension Tracing Service works, what it cannot tell you, and what the 31 October 2026 pensions dashboards deadline means for savers in the UK.

## What a lost pension is and why it happens

A lost pension is simply a workplace or personal pension that you have lost track of, usually because you changed jobs, moved home, or the provider changed its name or merged with another firm. Because many employers now enrol eligible workers into a workplace pension, a person can build a new small pot with each job. Over a long career that can mean several pots held by different providers, each sending paperwork to whichever address it last had on file. Nothing is usually wrong with the pension itself; the difficulty is knowing where to ask.

This guide applies to people in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland who think they may have an old workplace or personal pension. It does not apply to the State Pension, which is a separate benefit that is held by the government, and which you can check on a different GOV.UK service described further down.

## How the Pension Tracing Service works

The Pension Tracing Service is run by the Department for Work and Pensions and is available through GOV.UK online, by phone or by post. According to GOV.UK, it gives you the contact details for a workplace or personal pension scheme, and you can also request details for someone else's scheme if you have their permission. To search online, GOV.UK says you need the name of an employer or a pension provider. You can ask about several names, so listing every employer you can remember, with approximate dates, is a practical first step.

There is one important limit. GOV.UK states that the service cannot tell you whether you have a pension or what it is worth. It only points you to the scheme's contact details. Once you have those, it is for you to contact the scheme, give your full name, date of birth, National Insurance number and the dates you worked there, and ask whether it holds a pension in your name and what the current value is. GOV.UK gives the phone line as 0800 731 0175, open Monday to Friday, 10am to 3pm, and the postal address as The Pension Service, Post Handling Site A, Wolverhampton, WV98 1AF.

> **Key numbers** Pension Tracing Service phone: 0800 731 0175 (Monday to Friday, 10am to 3pm); from abroad +44 (0)191 218 7777. It supplies scheme contact details only, not whether you have a pension or its value (GOV.UK, checked 2026-10-21).

## Pensions dashboards and the 31 October 2026 deadline

Pensions dashboards are online services designed to let people see their pension information, including the State Pension, free of charge in one place. GOV.UK says they are meant to help reunite savers with lost or forgotten pensions. For this to work, pension schemes and providers have to link their records into a shared system, called the dashboards ecosystem. GOV.UK's guidance says in-scope schemes must be ready to respond to requests for pension information by 31 October 2026 at the latest, and that missing the date may lead to enforcement action by the relevant regulator.

The Pensions Regulator says all schemes must be connected by 31 October 2026, and that the window to apply to defer that deadline has closed. Earlier connect-by dates were staged by scheme size, running from April 2025 for the largest master trusts to 30 September 2026 for the smallest schemes in scope, those with 100 to 124 members. A Pensions Regulator press release dated 14 May 2026 said about 2,600 schemes needed to connect and that 75% of member records were already connected. The same release described the public MoneyHelper dashboard launch as on the horizon, without giving a date, so it is worth checking MoneyHelper for the current position.

> **Who this affects** Anyone who has had more than one pension, or who has moved or changed name since paying into one. A connection deadline for schemes is not the same as a public launch for savers: neither source read for this guide gave a public launch date.

## A worked example

Here is an illustrative example with made-up figures. Imagine someone who has worked for four employers and remembers contributing to a pension at three of them. After using the tracing service and writing to each scheme, they learn that the three old pots are worth £3,200, £1,850 and £4,950. The combined value is £3,200 plus £1,850, which is £5,050, plus £4,950, which makes £10,000. Without tracing, that sum could have remained unseen. Whether to combine pots is a separate decision, because some older schemes carry valuable guarantees or charges that differ, and it can be worth asking each scheme about those before any move.

## Common mistakes and what to check

- Searching under the current company name only, when the employer may have been renamed, sold or closed since.
- Assuming a small pot is not worth chasing; each scheme can tell you its value and any charges.
- Forgetting that the State Pension is separate. GOV.UK says you can check your State Pension forecast online with a sign-in, or through the HMRC app, unless you already receive it or have deferred it.
- Paying a company to trace pensions that the free GOV.UK service can search for you at no cost. Unexpected calls, texts or emails about a pension are a common scam approach, so it is safer to start from the official pages below.

## Where to get free help

MoneyHelper, the government-backed free guidance service for pensions and money, offers guidance on finding old pensions, and Citizens Advice can help if a scheme is slow to respond. If a provider does not answer or you are unhappy with how a complaint was handled, the Pensions Ombudsman or the Financial Ombudsman Service may be able to look at it, depending on the type of pension. This guide is general information only and is not personal advice.

## Check before you act

Rules, dates and contact details can change, and the dashboards timetable in particular is still moving from scheme connection towards public use. Please confirm the current position on the official pages linked below before relying on anything in this guide.

### Sources
- [GOV.UK: Find pension contact details (Pension Tracing Service): <](https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details>)
- [GOV.UK: Pensions dashboards, guidance on connection, the staged timetable: <](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pensions-dashboards-guidance-on-connection-the-staged-timetable/pensions-dashboards-guidance-on-connection-the-staged-timetable>)
- [The Pensions Regulator: When your scheme needs to connect with dashboards: <](https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/trustees/contributions-data-and-transfers/dashboards-guidance/when-your-scheme-needs-to-connect-with-dashboards>)
- [The Pensions Regulator: DB and hybrid schemes act now to get data ready for dashboards (14 May 2026): <](https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/media-hub/press-releases/2026-press-releases/db-hybrid-schemes-act-now-to-get-data-ready-for-dashboards>)
- [GOV.UK: Check your State Pension forecast: <](https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension>)