Auto-enrolment means most employees in the UK now have a workplace pension — and most job-movers have several, scattered across previous employers. The good news: you never lose a pension just by leaving a job. The pot stays where it is, continuing to grow, until you decide what to do with it or draw it down in retirement. The decisions about what to do next are where it gets more nuanced.
The most important question first
Defined contribution or defined benefit? The answer changes everything.
Defined Contribution (DC) Most workplace pensions today
- ✓You and your employer pay in; the pot grows with investments
- ✓The pot is entirely yours when you leave
- ✓Can generally be transferred to another DC pension
- ✓Flexible drawdown options at retirement
- ✗Investment risk lies with you — market performance affects your pot
- ~Value at retirement depends on contributions, growth, and charges
Defined Benefit (DB) Mostly public sector now
- ✓Income in retirement based on salary and years of service
- ✓Employer bears the investment risk — you get a guaranteed income
- ✓Index-linked increases protect against inflation
- ✓Extremely valuable — often described as gold-plated
- ✗Leaves with you as a deferred pension — you get it at scheme retirement age
- ✗Transferring out is almost always a mistake (see below)
What to do with an old DC pension
Three options — and the case for each.
The simplest option. The pot continues to grow invested, with no active management required. Works well if the scheme has low charges and decent investment options. The downside: multiple small pots spread across old employers become harder to track and manage over time.
Brings everything into one place and is often administratively straightforward. Check the new scheme's charges and investment options first — if they're worse than the old scheme, transferring isn't automatically better just because it's simpler.
A Self-Invested Personal Pension gives you wider investment choice, potentially lower charges, and full control. Suited to people with multiple old pots, the knowledge to manage investments, or dissatisfaction with workplace scheme options. Platform charges and investment costs must be lower than the old scheme for this to make financial sense.
Having six pensions from six old jobs is genuinely harder to manage than having one or two. Consolidation simplifies your finances and makes it easier to plan retirement income. Before transferring, check for: exit fees or market value adjustments, any guaranteed annuity rates (GAR) attached to old-style policies — these can be very valuable and are lost on transfer, and any protected pension ages (some older pensions have a protected retirement age of 50 that would be lost if transferred to a new scheme).
Defined benefit pensions
Almost never transfer out of a DB pension. The value is usually too great to give up.
If your DB pension's transfer value exceeds £30,000, you are legally required to take regulated financial advice before transferring. This requirement exists because the FCA recognises that DB-to-DC transfers are almost always in the interest of the receiving adviser or pension provider rather than the member.
People with old, dormant pension pots are frequent targets for pension scammers — cold calls, "pension liberation" offers, "guaranteed high returns." Legitimate pension providers never cold call you about transferring. Never transfer to a pension based on unsolicited contact, and always check the provider is FCA-registered before initiating any transfer. Pension fraud can be devastating and is very difficult to recover.
Lost pensions
The UK has billions in unclaimed pension pots. Use the government tracing service.
If you've changed jobs several times and can't locate an old pension — or aren't sure if you were enrolled — the government's free Pension Tracing Service can help. You provide the employer's name and approximate dates of employment, and the service identifies the relevant pension scheme and contact details.
Separately, the government's Pensions Dashboard (being rolled out from 2025 onwards) will eventually allow you to see all your pensions in one place. Until then, actively tracking down old pots is worth doing — even small pots compounding for decades can grow meaningfully.
For a full step-by-step guide on tracking down old pensions, see How to find a lost pension in the UK.
What should you actually do with your old pension?
Franky asks about your pension type, old scheme charges, new employer options, and retirement timeline — then gives you a clear, honest steer on whether to leave it, transfer it, or consolidate.
Talk to Franky →