Martin Lewis warns £30 bn of UK pensions could be missing

Money‑saving expert Martin Lewis cautioned that more than £30 billion in workplace pensions may be unclaimed across the United Kingdom, with the average lost pot just under £10,000. He highlighted that people who have switched jobs, moved house, or changed surnames are especially at risk of losing track of their retirement savings. Lewis urged anyone who fits this profile to review old employment paperwork, contact former employers, and use the Government’s Pension Tracing Service, which holds details on about 200,000 schemes. For cases where records remain elusive, he suggested the free tracing service Gretel, which matches credit‑file data to locate forgotten accounts. In a separate segment, Lewis also shared a simple “rule of thumb” formula for estimating how much to save for retirement, aiming to help savers set realistic targets.

He emphasized that many pension providers have merged or rebranded, further complicating retrieval, and noted that some viewers have already uncovered substantial sums, including one case of £45,000 and another exceeding £100,000.