Lost Pensions 2026: what the PPI’s latest research tells us

The Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) has published its latest Lost Pensions survey, Lost Pensions 2026: The Scale of the Challenge.

Find out more about the 2026 figures, how they relate to earlier surveys, and what the findings mean for pensions dashboards.

The continuing challenge of lost pensions

As people change jobs and build up pension savings throughout their working lives, keeping track of their pensions can become increasingly difficult.

This new research from the PPI, supported by the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS), provides an updated picture of the scale of this challenge.

A new baseline, not a comparison

The survey has achieved the strongest market coverage to date, but changes to the methodology and participating providers mean these figures cannot be directly compared with previous estimates.

The 2026 survey estimates there are around 3 million lost pension pots in the UK, holding approximately £18.7 billion in pension assets.

These results provide an updated baseline for the scale of lost pensions, rather than providing a direct comparison with previous years or evidence that the number of lost pensions or asset values have fallen since the 2024 survey, which included higher headline figures.

Most lost pots belong to savers under the age of 55, who account for around 2.5 million pots and £12.9 billion in assets. This is driven mainly by automatic enrolment and job changes, which lead to multiple small pots that can be easy to lose track of.

How the methodology changed

Changes from previous years include broader market coverage, with a different mix of participating providers and stronger representation from large providers that administer relatively small pots. It also used a revised scaling method.

For the first time, the survey also gathered exploratory evidence on defined benefit (DB) pensions. The data were not sufficient to produce a market-wide estimate, but the findings suggest that lost DB entitlements exist across different types of scheme. The PPI has highlighted the need for better data in this area.

Preparation for dashboards may already be having an impact

The PPI identifies work undertaken in preparation for dashboards, alongside increased pension tracing, as possible contributors to more people being reunited with their pensions. These are potential contributing factors, not proven explanations for the lower estimates.

The data quality improvement work required to connect to the dashboards ecosystem may have prompted more proactive, scheme-led tracing of lost members. The report also notes a rise in member-led tracing activity more widely, including a 58% increase in calls to the government's Pension Tracing Service in the year to September 2025.

Accurate, high-quality data is fundamental to matching members with their pots and to the long-term success of pensions dashboards more generally.

Looking ahead to the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard

A bigger shift can be expected with wider access to dashboards, starting with the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard which is expected to launch to the public in the financial year 2027 to 2028.

We have an early indication of the impact dashboards will have on savers and lost pots. In our latest research, due to be published soon, around a quarter of those surveyed said it had prompted them to think more about saving for the future, while 12% found a pension they had either lost track of or did not know about.

MaPS's role in this research

MaPS sponsored this survey because lost pensions sit at the heart of our wider purpose: helping people make the most of their money and pensions. Lost pensions can mean lower retirement incomes and poorer financial decisions for savers who do not know what they have.

Pensions dashboards are part of the solution to the issue of lost pensions, and this research helps us, and the pensions industry, understand the problem we're working to solve.

In summary

Lost pensions remain a significant issue, affecting millions of pots and billions of pounds in savings. The 2026 survey gives a broader-based estimate of the scale of the problem, and a new baseline for future years.

As pension providers and schemes complete their connection to the pensions dashboards ecosystem and continue to improve data quality in readiness for dashboards becoming publicly available, there's a real opportunity to help more savers find pensions they've lost track of.