One of the most valuable exercises you could do as an expat is to trace any lost pensions you are entitled to back in the UK. It is relatively easy to do, and one in five people who use the government’s free tracing service find a lost pension, which can be worth thousands of pounds a year. Many expats who have worked in the UK before emigrating lose details of what company pensions they have built up because they haven’t told their former employers their overseas address. Others simply forget about retirement plans they paid into during previous jobs.
The government’s Pension Tracing Service (www.gov.uk/find-lost-pension) contains information on more than 200,000 pension schemes and provides details of the pension provider for you to re-establish contact. The schemes covered include not only company pensions, but personal pensions too. You can trace them online, making it easy for Britons living and working overseas to make a claim.
