Worked in the UK? Sunday is the UK's pension tracing day, and your home country's records won't show your UK pension

National Pension Tracing Day falls on Sunday 25 October. Anyone who has worked in the UK, wherever they live now, can look for UK workplace pensions and check their UK State Pension free on gov.uk. Pension records in other countries do not show UK entitlements.

LONDON, 23 October 2026. Millions of people have worked in the UK for a few years and then moved on, to another country or back home. Each UK job can leave two separate entitlements: a workplace pension from an employer, and qualifying years towards the UK State Pension. UK employers must automatically enrol workers aged 22 to State Pension age who earn at least £10,000 a year, so even a short job in a warehouse, a hospital, a care home or a restaurant may have created a pension pot.

Six free steps

1. Your home country's record first. Check the official pension or social-security record in the country where you live or worked before. UK pensions will not appear in it, which is why the next steps matter.
2. UK workplace pensions. The UK government's Pension Tracing Service (https://www.gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details) gives free contact details for old schemes if you know the employer's or provider's name. It does not confirm whether a pension exists or what it is worth; the scheme does that. Phone from abroad: +44 191 218 7777, Monday to Friday 10am to 3pm UK time. Online any time.
3. UK State Pension forecast. Online on gov.uk ("Check your State Pension forecast"), in the HMRC app, with form BR19, or via the Future Pension Centre (+44 191 218 3600). At least 10 qualifying years are needed for the new State Pension.
4. Voluntary contributions: forecast first. Since 6 April 2026, time outside the UK can only be covered with Class 3 contributions, and only with 10 years' UK residence or 10 qualifying years.
5. Payment abroad. A UK State Pension can be paid in most countries. According to gov.uk it rises every year only in some of them (for example EEA countries, Switzerland, the USA and the Philippines); in many others it does not rise each year. Check the gov.uk country list. Claims from abroad: International Pension Centre, +44 191 218 7777.
6. Paperwork and address. Keep employer names, payslips, P60s and your National Insurance number, list every country you worked in, and give each scheme you find your current address and beneficiary details.

In the UK alone, the Pensions Policy Institute estimates about 3 million lost pots containing a combined £18.7 billion, which the PPI calls a lower bound estimate. More than four in five lost pots belong to people under 55 (PPI Table 1), and 13% of pots belonging to over 75s are considered lost. Report: https://www.pensionspolicyinstitute.org.uk/research-library/research-reports/2026/lost-pensions-the-scale-of-the-challenge/

The steps were compiled by PensionHunter, which also has a free online check: https://pensionhunter.ai/pension-checker?utm_source=freepressreleases&utm_medium=press&utm_campaign=nptd2026&utm_content=expat