Almost two in five (38%) of people have said that they are not sure or do not know where their pension savings are held, Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) has found.

In a survey of 2,000 people, HL revealed that almost two thirds of people (62%) know where all of their pensions are held.

In comparison, over one in five (22%) said they are not sure where their pension savings are held, while a further 16% said they don’t know where their money is kept.

HL said that it was the older generations that were more likely to know where their pensions are, with just 8% of over 55s stating that they don’t know where all their pension are held.

However, a further 18% admitted they are not sure.

For those aged between 18-34 years old, one in five (21%) don’t know where their pensions were held, while a further 28% are unsure.

Head of retirement analysis at HL, Helen Morrissey, said: "It’s easy to put off tidying up our pension admin, but doing so risks us losing out in retirement. Almost 40% of people admit they don’t know where their pensions are held, and this puts them at extra risk of losing track of them altogether.

"The problem lessens as we get older with only 8% saying they definitely don’t know where all their pensions are held – however a further 18% admitted they aren’t sure. The problem gets much worse for younger people with almost half of the 18-34 age group admitting they either don’t know or aren’t sure where their pensions are held. This could be because older generations have been less impacted by auto-enrolment and so have fewer pensions to begin with. Others may have decided to keep track to minimise the risk of losing them in the run up to retirement."

The financial services firm said that not knowing where pensions are held can lead to losing track of them, which can affect retirement income.

Morrissey added: "You might not stay in a role for very long and so think it doesn’t really matter if you lose track of a pension. However, small pensions grow over time and so not keeping track of them could leave you thousands of pounds out of pocket when you come to leave work. The most recent data from the Pensions Policy Institute estimates there is around £26bn of lost pension money washing around the system, with the average lost pension being worth over £9,000 – so it’s well worth keeping track.

"Auto-enrolment means many of us will get a new pension with every job we do so we could end our working life with multiple pots. The government is looking at how to introduce a lifetime pension whereby people can choose the pension they want their employer to pay contributions into. This will go a long way towards helping people keep track of their pensions, although this will take time to implement."

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