Martin Lewis fan explains how they found 'lost' £13,500 by following his advice

25 October 2023 , 12:09

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Martin Lewis has shared tips on how Brits could find lost pension pots (Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Martin Lewis has shared his tips for finding lost pensions after one MoneySavingExpert.com fan shared how they found £13,500 by following his advice.

The saver was featured in the latest MSE newsletter as its "success of the week". The saver - known only as Jackie - told the MSE team that they had worked for Royal Mail for three years between 1988 and 1991. During this time Jackie contributed £596 to its pension plan.

Jackie had heard Martin's advice on tracing previous work pensions, she then managed to track down her pension pot which had grown to a whopping £13,581 over the last 30 years.

She told the MSE team: "Thank you for your advice on tracing previous work pensions. I worked for Royal Mail between 1988 and 1991 and only contributed £596 in that time. I now have a transfer balance of £13,581. A big thank you to Martin & the team."

This Sunday is National Pension Tracing Day. The day has been coined to bring awareness to the nearly three million pensioners which are believed to have "gone astray". Some of these pensions could potentially be worth tens of thousands to even hundreds of thousands of pounds now.

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In this week's newsletter, Martin explained how there couldn't be many more "potentially profitable" ways to spend an hour this Sunday than to check if you have got any lost pensions. Martin noted that the biggest payouts are usually from old private or company pensions and investments.

Have you recently tracked down a lost pension? Let us know: [email protected]

If you fancy taking a look this Sunday, Martin says the first thing you need to do is contact ex-employers and dig out old papers. However, is this isn't possible then the government has a free Pension Tracing Service tool to track down lost pensions on its website. It is a free service which searches a database of more than 300,000 workplace and personal pension schemes.

To use it, you will need the name of an employer or a pension provider. If you find an old pension pot then the service provides contact details for pension schemes run by employers, as well as for private schemes organised by pension providers.

You will only be able to get the details of your pension savings once a pension firm has established you are who you say you are and that you do indeed have a pension pot with them. The service will not tell you how much you have in this particular pension pot, you will need to contact the pension administrator yourself to find out if you have any money with them.

You can use the Pension Tracing Service through the GOV.UK website here. You can also call them on 0800 731 019.

Ruby Flanagan