It is believed that there are around three million pension pots worth £26.6billion that are classed as "lost" or "forgotten" in the UK and going forward, pension experts warn that this figure could rise even further

One man has shared how he managed to find cash in lost pension pots and boost his retirement savings by £130,000.

Ben Merrills, from Hampshire, managed to rediscover five lost pension pots he had accumulated throughout his working life. Ben told the Mirror that he was always aware of the pots he had with previous employers and felt he was "generally" on top of them but with mountains the paperwork, he found it harder to manage and lose track of them.

A few years ago the HR professional started to think about his future and wanted to take control of his retirement savings. He said: "I'm not close to retirement but I'm at a point where I've had a number of jobs and I know I've had a number of pensions and keeping track of them all was really a pain in the backside. The pension I have at my current job does allow me to transfer into it, but I needed to find all the details of my other pensions to be able to do it."

A tad uncertain of how to go about this, Ben began to research ways he could compile his pension pots into one. During this research, he came across the pension tracing service app Penny, which helps people find their lost savings pots as well as offers plans and pension investment options. He added: "I think I saw it on a billboard or something. So I did some due diligence, background checks and stuff, and I was happy with what I found and went with them."

Penny does charge a 0.75% fee per year on the value of the pension which is called the Annual Management Charge (AMC) which they say falls within the Workplace Pension charge cap of 0.75%.

It is important to know that you can track down your lost pension pots yourself. You will need to contact ex-employers and dig out old paperwork. However, if this isn't possible, then the Government has a free Pension Tracing Service tool. This is a free service and to use it, you will need the name of an employer or a pension provider. If you find an old pension pot then the service provides contact details for pension schemes run by employers, as well as for private schemes by pension providers.

Ben explained how the main issue was that one of the companies he worked for got sold and taken over again twice. This meant he had one pension pot but with three different providers. He was also struggling to find pension pots from very early on in his career. He added: "So I knew I knew I had a pension, but I didn't know who it was with now and the value of it".

With the help of Penny, Ben managed to find pension pots with a vast array of different amounts ranging from £3,000 to £18,000 to £30,000. Ben said the discoveries were definitely a "pleasant surprise". He said: "So I had a rough idea of knowing what my pension pot was going to be and to have the extra amount on top certainly helps. It's not life changing but it's extra income for you in your later life so it's only a good thing."

Ben said the extra cash added to his retirement savings will definitely improve his quality of life in his older age adding: "It's a positive thing to look at my future, knowing I've got more money in my pension, and knowing my standard of living will be better is great."

To keep track of his pots more easily in the future, Ben compiled them all together in the Penny app but noted that the process was a difficult one. However, Ben said the team at Penny was incredibly supportive and without them, he believes the process would've been much harder. He explained: "Once or twice it felt like I must be the only person in the world who has ever requested to transfer a pension, such was the barriers they tried to put in place. Some definitely dragged their feet and honestly, one or two companies wanted my inside leg measurement. Now that my pensions are all in one place I feel much more positive going forward."

It is believed that there are around three million pension pots worth £26.6billion that are classed as "lost" or "forgotten" in the UK and going forward, pension experts warn that this figure could rise even further. For those set to embark on their lost pension journey, Ben says that asking for help has benefitted him and has helped him save a lot of time.

He added: "If you have a lot of pensions and you can't remember where they are then a company which does all the donkey work for you and helps you find it is worth it. So I would say to people if they ever feel in the dark about it and they just don't know how to approach to get help, and for me it was Penny."