Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of unclaimed workplace or private pensions in the United Kingdom.

The department has not produced an assessment of the number of unclaimed workplace or private pensions in the UK. The Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) has done some work to assess lost pots, which is slightly different in scope to an unclaimed pension. The PPI define a lost pot as when the pension provider who administers it is unable to contact the saver who owns it. In 2024, they estimated £31.1bn lost across 3.3m pension pots, with the average value of a lost pot being around £9,500 (see: https://www.pensionspolicyinstitute.org.uk/media/vh4aaq2j/20241024-ppi-bn138-lost-pensions-2024-final.pdf).

Work is underway on pensions dashboards, a digital service that will allow individuals to find and view information about their pensions, including State Pension, in one place online. This will help reconnect them with lost or forgotten pensions. Users can expect to see who holds their pensions, the current value of their pensions, and an estimated retirement income.