What is the Pension Tracing Service?
16 Apr 2024
The Pension Tracing Service is a free tool provided by the government, designed to help you track down contact information for pension providers that your previous employers may have used. This can be particularly useful if you've lost touch with your old workplace pensions.
How Does It Work?
When you use the Pension Tracing Service, you access a database containing over 200,000 records of both workplace and personal pension schemes. However, it's important to note that this service can only help you find the provider's contact details—it doesn't pinpoint your specific pension directly.
Preparing to Use the Service
To make the most of this service, you'll need to gather some key information beforehand:
The name of the previous employer or pension scheme (and any former names)
The nature of the business
Any changes to the business address during your time with them
Armed with this information, you can start the search for your old pension provider.
Follow-up Actions
After obtaining the necessary contact details from the Pension Tracing Service, you will need to reach out to the pension provider yourself. This might involve communication via phone or mail to confirm whether they hold a pension in your name, learn its current value, and eventually request payouts.
A Simpler Alternative?
While the Pension Tracing Service can be helpful, it can also prove to be a bit cumbersome and time-consuming, especially when you need to contact multiple providers yourself.
If you're looking for an easier, assisted approach to finding and consolidating old pensions, you might want to consider downloading the Penny app. Penny will handle the entire process for you, from contacting your pension providers to transferring them into one personal pension account.
