Don’t lose track of your retirement savings – are your details up to date?

There are an estimated 2.8 million pension pots worth £26.6 billion – the equivalent of nearly £9,500 each – that have been lost or forgotten.

A common reason for losing touch with your retirement savings is out of date personal information. It makes it harder for your pension provider to know how to contact you and for you to find out how much you have saved.

To avoiding missing out, we’re urging pension members to make sure all personal details are up to date, including address, name and email address.

This article is not personal advice. Ask for advice if you are unsure of a course of action for your circumstances.

Why it’s important to keep your details up to date

Whatever your retirement plans, one thing's certain – you'll need money to support yourself after you stop working. That's where your pension comes in.

Your workplace pension forms an important part of preparing for life after work. It can supplement income that you might receive as part of the UK State Pension.

Regularly logging in to your account and reviewing the value of your pension allows you to track its growth and make well-informed decisions regarding your retirement options.

Have you moved house?

Half of those under 25 have already lived in three or more places. And the average person typically moves three more times before reaching the age of 45.

You’ll probably let your bank, utility providers and your employer know that you’ve moved. But what about your pension provider?

At HL, we’ll send you a pension statement each year. Unless you’ve chosen to receive your documentation digitally, we’ll post it to you. So we need your up to date postal and email addresses to make sure they get to you.

Have you changed your name?

There are lots of reasons people’s names and titles change throughout the course of their lives.

Whether it’s marriage, divorce, qualifications or something else, it’s important to let your pension provider know if your legal name has changed.

When it comes to taking money from your pension in retirement, pension providers need to make sure the right person is being paid. Part of this process involves checking that the name we hold on record matches the bank account.

Have you changed employer?

The average employee in the UK changes job every five years. Over the course of an entire career, that can mean a lot of different employers and lots of pensions.

Former employers should let the pension provider know that you’ve left employment. But your old pension won’t move across to your new employer’s pension automatically.

READ MORE ABOUT TRACING LOST PENSIONS

How to update your personal details with HL

1. Log into your account
2. Select ‘Account Settings’ towards the right-hand side
3. Select ‘Personal details and statement delivery’ on the left-hand side
4. In the ‘Personal details’ box, select ‘Edit personal details’, update as appropriate and select ‘Save’.

Or call us on 0117 314 1795 if you don’t have online access to your account.

WATCH OUR SHORT HOW-TO VIDEO