An estimated 20 million of us in the UK have money lying unclaimed somewhere, according to the tracing service Gretel. It could be worth up to a total of £82 billion. Our guide explains how to track down your lost cash without having to fork out a fee.
Around 4.8 million pension pots – worth £50bn – are unclaimed or lost, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR).
And that is just our pensions. Our hard-earned cash is also languishing in forgotten current and savings accounts, investments, child trust funds and premium bonds.
In this article, we cover:
- How do people forget about their money?
- What happens to your lost money?
- How do I find:
- Pension pots
- Savings and bank accounts?
- Premium Bonds
- Child trust funds
- Investments
- Insurance policies
- Inheritance
How much should you be paying into your pension?
How do people forget about their money?
Forgotten money is generally known as dormant assets. These are financial products, such as pensions, bank accounts or insurance policies that have been forgotten or the owner has died.
It is likely that the provider has lost contact because you have moved house or changed employer.
In the case of workplace pensions, for example, when you change jobs you stop being a member of your workplace pension scheme. While you can move the pension to your new place of work, many people forget and so the money remains where it is.
It is worth trying to track down these assets because, according to the charity Age UK, those who do it successfully reclaim between £500 and £1,000.
There are a number of useful websites that can help you:
- Government’s Pension Tracing Service – pensions
- My Lost Account – current accounts and savings
- Gretel – pensions, child trust funds and forgotten investments
- Association of Investment Companies(AIC) – investment trusts
- Investment Association – unit trusts
- NS&I – Premium Bonds
A simple guide to pensions
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What happens to your lost money?
In 2011, the finance industry launched a government-backed scheme to try to reunite people with their lost money, called the Dormant Assets Scheme.
Businesses have a duty to track down owners, which they can do by calling or emailing you or, in the case of a house move, using Royal Mail, a tracing service, or credit reference agency.
If the owner can’t be found, the business can transfer money voluntarily using the scheme which then puts it towards social and environmental initiatives viaThe National Lottery Community Fund(TNLCF). To date, hundreds of millions of pounds have been spent on charitable causes.
In 2022, the scheme expanded to cover assets from insurance and pensions and in August 2024 the FCA published rules for adding investments assets. The regulator says this should free up another £880 million for charity.
“It may spark panic among some investors worried about losing money that’s rightfully theirs”, said Sarah Coles, head of personal finance, Hargreaves Lansdown
“The good news is that even if you have assets that are scooped up by the scheme, you will still always have the right to get your money back at any time.
“If the owner of the investments has passed away, their family will always be able to reclaim it on their behalf. However, this money is no use to you if it’s stuck in lost accounts, so you need to take steps to track it down,” she added.
1. Workplace and personal pensions
Even if you aren’t sure whether you were part of a workplace pension scheme, the first step is to think back to all the employers you have worked for.
Auto-enrolment started to be rolled out across the UK in 2012, with the aim of getting more workers saving for retirement. It started with the biggest firms so, prior to 2017, if you worked for a smaller firm, auto-enrolment may not have applied.
Now, all workplaces must enrol you into a workplace pension scheme and contribute to it, if you are over 22 and earning above £10,000 a year. Currently you must contribute 5% of your salary and your employer has to pay in 3%.
For personal pensions, look for any email correspondence or old paperwork from your provider to help you work out where your money is held.Once you have details, call the provider and speak to the administrator.
Annual pension statements
Your provider has to send you regular correspondence about your pension, which includes an annual statement that provides information such as:
- how much is in your account
- where your money is invested
- the amount of investment gains or losses through the year
- any fees and charges
- a forecast of what income you could receive in retirement
If you can’t find your statements, have moved house or are no longer receiving this correspondence for any reason, contact the provider. If you are unsure of who your pension is with, contact your old employer and ask them for the details.
Avoid companies that charge a fee for finding lost pensions on your behalf. It can be done for nothing without them and it might even be a scam.
For free help and guidance, or if you are drawing a blank, try the government’s free Pension Tracing Service.
2. Bank and savings accounts
If you think there might be money in a bank or building society account somewhere, contact the institution directly.The My Lost Account website could help if you are not sure of your account details, or are tracing a lost account for children or a deceased parent.
You will be asked to fill in a form, giving as much detail as you can and including the name of the bank or building society where you think money is held. This information will then be passed to the institution named, which will confirm whether a dormant account is held.
The website is free to use and covers most UK banks, all UK building societies and the full range of National Savings & Investments (NS&I) products.
Be aware that it can take up to 90 days to trace your money in the longest-case scenario.
3. Premium Bonds
Contact NS&I directly if you think you may have missing Premium Bonds. Your account number is likely to have been sent to you via email or through the post; seek it out and then enter it on the website to see if you have anything outstanding.
If you can’t locate your number, you can use the NS&I’s tracing service or My Lost Account.You will be asked to fill in a form to track down any unclaimed prizes.
4. Child trust funds
Approximately £2 billion is languishing in one million unclaimed Child Trust Funds (CTFs) – an average of £2,000 in each – according tothe Investing and Saving Alliance(Tisa). This affects teenagers born between 2002 and 2011, plus approximately 430,000 young adults aged between 18 and 21.
The CTF was a government scheme where the parents of children born during the eligible period were given the choice of a tax-free savings or investment account that was boosted by vouchers.
If you were born during the eligible period, contact the child trust fund provider directly. If you don’t know who it is, HMRC’s free tracing service can check on your behalf.
The Share Foundation, a charity working to reunite teenagers and young people with their cash, also offers a free online tracing service.
You can check on your behalf of your child by searching through HMRC as long as you have parental responsibility for the child.
We explain more here about child trust funds.
5. Investments
If you have owned individual company stocks in the past but have lost the details, contact the company directly to request a replacement share certificate. You will need to prove your identity.
If you are not sure which companies you own shares in, try one of the main share registrars – Computershare, Equiniti or Link Group. These may charge a fee to search for historically held shares.
You can also use the My Lost Account website.It’ll take up to 90 days for all the institutions to get back to you, and then you need to contact them each directly.
The Investment Association’s Unclaimed Assets Portal can also help you track down missing savings and a wider range of investments such as funds.
6. Insurance policies
First, check your bank account statements for details of any payments to an insurance company. Banks typically retain statements going back seven years.
If you used a professional to help you set up the policy, you contact them to see if they have any details on file. These can include:
- Financial advisers
- Solicitors
- Brokers
- Accountants
The Association of British Insurers has more guidance on tracing an insurance policy. Gretel might also be able to help, especially if you are tracking down a relative’s policy.
7. Inheritances
Searching for unclaimed assets of a deceased person can only be done by someone with the power of attorney or the executor of a will.
In the case of making a claim on the estate of someone who died but who didn’t make a will, you can head to the government’s dedicated webpage, known as the bona vacantia list. There are around 6,000 unclaimed estates on this list, which is updated daily by the government. You can read everything there is to know about approaching unclaimed estates in our guide to bona vacantia.
Taken on the role of an executor? Here’s what you need to know
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