Standard Life has reunited customers with £50m in lost pension savings in just five months after launching a new tracing tool.
In total 2,900 Standard Life customers have tracked down 3,000 lost pension pots using pension tracing technology offered by Raindrop, which has partnered with the insurer.
Recent research from the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) revealed that £31.1bn is estimated to be sitting in lost pension pots across the UK. This issue has been exacerbated by auto-enrolment with the average worker in the UK now likely to have at least 11 jobs during in their working lifetime.
In total research has shown that eight in 10 (81 per cent) working-age adults are unsure where all their pension pots are, with a fifth (19 per cent) concerned they don’t have enough saved for retirement.
Standard Life’s research highlights that many savers can benefit from consolidating smaller pension pots, as this can mean reduced administration and can help them track performance better and potentially lead to cost savings. However three-quarters (73 per cent) of people with multiple pensions have not consolidated them, and 32 per cent are unsure how to do so.
Since its launch, Raindrop has located over £500m in lost pension savings across almost 45,000 pots.
Standard Life managing director for retail direct Dean Butler says: “The success of our partnership with Raindrop shows how technology can simplify the process [of tracking down lost pensions], quickly helping people to reconnect with their hard-earned savings. It’s good to see how digital innovation and this partnership is giving people a clearer view of their potential retirement income and greater confidence in their financial future.”
Raindrop co-founder and COO Vivan Shridharani adds: “This is just the tip of the iceberg. The fact that our tool has tracked down £50m in lost pension savings in just a few months demonstrates the appetite for a simple pension-finding solution – there are billions still sitting in lost pots waiting to be reunited with savers to enable them to plan for a better financial future.”
Raindrop’s pension finding technology enables savers to locate lost pots by working with banks, pension providers and financial advisers including Standard Life.
