It's been estimated there could be 1.6 million lost or forgotten pension pots out there and as many as 1 in 30 could have a lost or forgotten pension. National Pension Tracing Day is on Sunday 30 October and invites people to search for lost and forgotten pensions.
Employers can help with the hunt by using their internal communications channels to help employees find lost pensions. Find out more about the Employer Toolkit.
By Johanna Nelson
New research* has some sobering findings on how the cost of living crisis is affecting employees and their mental health – around 70% of employees are now worrying more about money and around three-quarters of these employees are suffering worse mental health as a result.
And when employees think about their employer’s support, only 30% of employees say their employer cares about their financial health. National Pension Tracing Day is one way that employers can show that they do care about their employees' financial health and want to help.
It has been estimated that there could be 1.6 million lost or forgotten pension pots out there, worth an average of £13,000 each**. And as many as 1 in 30 could have a lost or forgotten pension.
Finding an unclaimed pension won’t resolve the cost of living crisis, but with an estimated £19 billion of lost pensions, it makes sense to reunite employees with this lost money. And employers can use their internal communication channels to help.
National Pension Tracing Day is a week on Sunday, 30 October. It’s the day the clocks go back. In partnership with Punter Southall Aspire we are inviting people to use that extra hour to join in a ‘Great Pension Treasure Hunt’ and search for lost and forgotten pensions.
Our National Pension Tracing Day employer toolkit, makes it easy for employers to use their internal communication channels to help employees find lost pensions. The Wagestream research quoted above emphasises the importance of using the right channels when communicating with employees. It also points out that most people have to see something multiple times before they start paying attention to it.
The National Pension Tracing Day communications toolkit has lots of options that can adapt to different work locations and situations.
So – how can employers use the internal communications toolkits? There are many options:
- Are your employees mostly in offices or on factory floors?
Put our colourful posters up near coffee spots and water fountains, in canteens and corridors, or anywhere people gather. There are six eye-catching designs for you, simply choose the ones you want and click on the image to download a printable pdf. - Do you have lots of remote employees in different places?
Our email campaign, consisting of a teaser launch and follow-up email with links to the National Pension Tracing Day resources, is all ready for you to download and send. - Do you operate an internal social media channel?
We’ve got downloadable social media templates for you. Don’t forget the hashtags: #NationalPensionTracingDay #GreatPensionTreasureHunt - Is your company intranet or website your main communication channel?Download and post our intranet banners on your pages.
- Remember - people learn in different ways.
Some would like to read an article, or follow a step-by-step checklist. Others might prefer to watch a video.
Guides to putting your pensions together
If your employees find lost pensions, the support doesn’t stop there. We’ve got online guides and a video explaining pension ‘consolidation’. This could be a good idea for some people, but not right for others – so it’s important your employees have resources that can help them understand it.
National Pension Tracing Day – Sunday 30 October
Download the toolkit today, use the materials and tell us what you and your employees find – we want to hear your success stories.
#NationalPensionTracingDay #GreatPensionTreasureHunt
*Source: The State of Financial Wellbeing – The Cost of Living Report 2022 (Wagestream)
**Source: £19.4 billion of pension pots unclaimed – just because of house moves | ABI