John Ferguson, 32, used the Penny app to trace seven pension pots
16:35, 20 Jan 2026Updated 16:41, 20 Jan 2026
John Ferguson recently tracked down his lost pensions(Image: The Mirror)
An Edinburgh man is encouraging others to track down their pensions after he discovered £10,000 worth of missing pots. John Ferguson, 32, used the Penny app to trace seven pension pots, including two that he had no idea existed.
The Mirror reports there is an estimated £31.1 billion sitting in lost or unclaimed pension pots, according to 2024 research by the Pensions Policy Institute (PPI). John, who works in security, believes there could still be two or three more pensions to come.
He said: “Penny was really easy. You don’t have to give a lot of information for them to help you. One of them… I completely forgot I worked for them when I was possibly 18.
“When I was on the Penny app, you put in past employers so I just clicked it and when I got a notification to say they’d found a pension, I was really surprised.
“If I never used the Penny app, I potentially never would have found that pension. The other one was a pension, to this moment, I still don’t know where it came from.
“I didn’t even put this pension provider or employer in, but I got a notification saying we think you have a pension with this provider.”
Penny tracks down your pension pots by using your National Insurance number and any details you have about your old employment or pension provider. It then combines your pensions into one pot, which you can view within the app.
Penny charges 0.75% per year for its default pension plans. The main benefit of consolidating your pensions is that you will have all your retirement pots in one place, but there are things to consider first.
People are urged to always check if your your existing pension provider charges any fees for transferring your plans, or if you would lose benefits like guaranteed annuity rates or protected tax-free cash. Seek free pension advice first before making any decisions.
There is a free Government tool called the Pension Tracing Service that can help track down lost pensions. You need to provide your previous employment details.
The Pension Tracing Service will only tell you the contact details of a provider – it won’t give you details of how much you have invested. You would need to contact the pension administrator yourself to find out if you have any funds with them.
There is set to be a new pensions dashboard tool launching this year, which will let people see all their pension information in one place. Approximately 3,000 providers and schemes will be connected to the dashboard by October 31, 2026.