A fifth of people with multiple pensions say they have lost track of at least one.
Research from Standard Life also found 73 per cent of those with more than one workplace pension have not consolidated their pots.
Almost a third did not know how to start consolidating, while 12 per cent found the process too difficult.
Dean Butler, managing director of retail direct at Standard Life said: “We know that people who actively plan for their retirement are more confident and financially secure but if you don’t know where all your savings are, you can’t begin to calculate their value, making planning unnecessarily difficult."
To address the problem, Standard Life has partnered with Raindrop, which offers pension finding technology.
It said the pension finding process can begin in just two steps, once registered. After providing an employer's name and time period employed Raindrop's tracing process takes, on average, four to six weeks.
Butler added: "Sometimes people have a vague idea of having a pension with a previous employer but then just don’t know how to go about finding it.
"Our new pension finding service removes the major hurdles that people face and allows them to regain control of their pensions savings. We want to help them trace any missing pensions, so they don’t ever lose them again and are better prepared to organise their retirement savings.”
It’s estimated that 2.8mn pension pots in the UK, valued at more than £26.6bn, remain unclaimed.
With the average person having at least 11 employers in their working lifetime, the process of tracking pensions down can be challenging.
Vivan Shridharani, Co-Founder of Raindrop, said: “Millions of UK savers have lost pensions, often unsure of how to begin their search. As each new generation has more jobs than the last, the number of lost pensions continues to grow. We’re committed to helping savers, with a simple solution to easily find their lost pensions and help them better prepare for their financial future."
Since launching, Raindrop has located over £325m in lost pension savings across more than 27,000 pots.
tara.o'connor@ft.com
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