An access to information request to the Department for Work and Pensions, submitted by Hargreaves Lansdown, showed that nearly 207,000 calls were made to the government’s pensions tracing service in the past four years.

People often lose track of their pensions when they change employers or move into a new home and do not notify their provider.

Therefore, the provider cannot communicate with them and over time these pensions are forgotten, people having gaps in their retirement income.

This problem has been compounded by the fact that more people are automatically enrolled in a pension when they start a new job.

Helen Morrissey, senior pensions and pensions analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Frequent job changes mean people can accumulate several small pensions over the course of their working lives.

“A recent study by Hargreaves Lansdown showed that while 22 percent of people aged 55 to 64 with a pension reported having three or more pensions, that figure rose to one-third of those aged 18-24 and 35-44. years.

“However, there is no need to lose sight of pensions. Safely store pension documents and update your contact details every time you move to a new home.

But for pensions that are lost and never claimed, the entry into force of new rules may mean that those assets are no longer wasted.

The Dormant Assets Program was established in 2008 to distribute unclaimed assets of banks and building societies to social and environmental initiatives across the UK.

A bill is currently under consideration in Parliament and aims to extend this regime to dormant assets in the sectors of insurance and pensions, investment, wealth management and securities.

Last year the government said pensions would be excluded from the scheme, given the “significant changes” in the pension landscape in recent years and its commitment to pension dashboards, which it wanted to give time. to develop. It has the potential to make around £ 880million available across the UK.

However, if someone’s money is transferred to the Dormant Assets Fund, they can still get it back.

Morrissey said: “Hundreds of thousands of pensions are gone. Ideally, each pension could be reunited with its owner, but if not, it is positive that this is used for good causes rather than sitting on forgotten accounts.

“The key is that if the repo investor comes back for the money, the plan allows them to access their assets.”

This article originally appeared on FTAdviser.com