Pension savers ‘sitting on three million lost pots worth average of £6,000’

With the news that more than three million UK pension pots are estimated to be “lost”, according to the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI), Maike Currie, vice president of personal finance at PensionBee argues the focus should be on protecting people’s savings.

She said: “The debate about lost pensions focuses too much on the cost to providers and not enough on the cost to savers, from the impact of fees eating into smaller pots to the risk of poorer retirement outcomes. If providers struggle to administer smaller pots commercially, savers should be able to move their money quickly, easily and without unnecessary costs or barriers to providers that can. The priority must be protecting people’s retirement savings, not providers’ profit margins.

“The long-awaited Pensions Dashboard will be a vital step forward, helping savers track down forgotten pots and see all their pensions in one place. But finding lost pensions is only half the battle. Savers must also be empowered to take action, whether that’s consolidating pots where appropriate, comparing fees or making better-informed decisions about their retirement savings.”