There's a piece of confusion we run into all the time, and we'd rather just be honest about it: there are two pension tracing services in the UK with very similar names, and they are not the same thing.
The Government runs a free pension tracing tool through gov.uk — sometimes called Find Pension Contact Details or the Pension Tracing Service. It's a directory of scheme contact details, run by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The Pension Tracing Service® (us, the people whose website you're currently on) is a privately-operated, FCA-authorised service that has been finding and managing lost UK pensions since 2012.
We're not affiliated with the Government in any way. The two services do different things, charge differently, and suit different situations. This guide explains both, side-by-side, so you can decide which to use — or whether to use both.
The Pension Tracing Service® has been operating since 2012. We registered the trademark and built the service around helping people find lost workplace and personal pensions, then connecting them with regulated advice on what to do next.
In 2016, the UK Government launched its own free tool — formally called the Find Pension Contact Details service, but referred to colloquially as the Pension Tracing Service. Same generic phrase, different organisation, different offering.
Both services are completely legitimate. The naming overlap is unfortunate but reflects the basic fact that "pension tracing service" is a literal description of what each does. We disclose the distinction prominently on every page of our site, and we encourage anyone who wants the Government tool to use it directly.
Service name: Find Pension Contact Details
URL: gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details
Run by: The Department for Work and Pensions
Cost: Free
The Gov.UK tool is a searchable directory of more than 200,000 UK workplace and personal pension schemes. You search by employer name or scheme name, and it returns the current contact details for the scheme administrator — a phone number, an address, and sometimes a website.
What it does:
✅ Returns up-to-date contact details for known schemes
✅ Free to use, no account required
✅ Covers a very large number of UK schemes
What it does not do:
❌ Tell you whether you have a pension
❌ Tell you what your pension is worth
❌ Search by your name, NI number, or work history
❌ Contact the scheme on your behalf
❌ Give you any advice on what to do once you've found a pension
The tool is, essentially, a digital phone book for pension schemes. It assumes you already know which scheme you're looking for and just need the right number to call.
Service name: The Pension Tracing Service® (a trademark of Millennial Wealth Ltd)
URL: pensiontracingservice.com
Run by: A private, FCA-authorised UK firm (FCA number 914746)
Cost: Free to find pensions; one-off 1% fee on transfer if you choose to consolidate; 0.82–0.86% annual management fee thereafter
We're an end-to-end service designed for people who want the tracing and the next steps handled for them. When you sign up:
We contact HMRC for your contracted-out SERPS records
We contact the DWP for your State Pension record
We contact pension providers, scheme trustees and previous employers on your behalf
We value every pot we find — current cash value, charges, performance
Our regulated advisers review each one and give you a recommendation in plain English
If consolidating into a single new plan is the right call, we handle the transfer — if it isn't, we say so
The headline difference: the Gov.UK tool gives you contact details and stops; we do the entire trace and review for you.
Run by
The Pension Tracing Service®: Private firm (FCA 914746), since 2012
Cost to find
The Pension Tracing Service®: Free
Cost for valuation/review
The Pension Tracing Service®: Free
Cost to consolidate
The Pension Tracing Service®: 1% one-off + 0.82–0.86% annual
Searches HMRC for SERPS records
The Pension Tracing Service®: ✅
Searches DWP for State Pension
The Pension Tracing Service®: ✅
Contacts providers on your behalf
The Pension Tracing Service®: ✅
Returns pension valuations
The Pension Tracing Service®: ✅
Provides regulated advice
The Pension Tracing Service®: ✅
Handles transfers/consolidation
The Pension Tracing Service®: ✅ (if you choose)
You need to remember the employer
The Pension Tracing Service®: Helpful but not required
You do the follow-up phone calls
The Pension Tracing Service®: We do them for you
The Government tool is genuinely useful in these situations:
You remember the employer or scheme name. A 30-second search returns the right contact number.
You're confident chasing a single scheme yourself. If you only have one old pension to track down and you've got the time and patience to phone the administrator, the Gov.UK tool may be all you need.
You want to verify the contact details for a scheme you already know about before writing to them.
It's a directory. Used as a directory, it works well.
We're built for the situations where the directory model isn't enough:
You don't remember some of your employers, or only remember them vaguely.
You have multiple pensions across multiple jobs and don't fancy chasing each one.
You want the value of each pot, not just the contact details.
You want regulated advice on whether to leave, transfer or consolidate.
You're considering bringing your pensions together into one plan and want help working out whether that's the right call.
The trail is messy — old jobs, employers that no longer trade, schemes that have been wound up or acquired.
Plenty of our customers start with the Gov.UK tool — it's free, it's quick, and for one or two known employers it's perfectly adequate. They then sign up to us when they realise:
There are more pensions in their history than they can track down with employer-by-employer phone calls
They've got the contact details but the schemes have asked for documentation they don't have
They want a current valuation and a recommendation, not just a phone number
If you've already done some legwork on Gov.UK, it actually speeds up our trace — pass the scheme names you've already identified to us at sign-up.
A couple of nuances worth knowing about:
Regulation. The Government tool isn't an FCA-regulated service because it's a directory, not a financial service. The Pension Tracing Service® is FCA-authorised (number 914746) because we provide a regulated activity — including the advice we give on what to do with each pot we find. Any UK firm giving you pension transfer advice has to be FCA-authorised; the Government tool can't legally provide that advice.
Fees. The Gov.UK tool has no fees, ever — but it doesn't include valuation, advice or transfers. Our service is free to find pensions and free to review them; the only fee is on the consolidation step, and only if you choose to take it.
Accountability. Both services are accountable to their respective bodies — the DWP for the Government tool, and the Financial Conduct Authority for us. If something goes wrong with the trace or with the advice you get from us, there are formal complaint and redress mechanisms (Financial Ombudsman Service, Financial Services Compensation Scheme).
No. The Pension Tracing Service® is a private, FCA-authorised service (FCA number 914746) that has been operating since 2012. The Government runs its own free tool at gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details — they're separate services.
Both are free to find pensions. The Gov.UK tool is free at every stage but it only provides scheme contact details. We charge only on the optional consolidation step (1% one-off + 0.82–0.86% annual management).
The Pension Tracing Service®. The Gov.UK tool returns contact details only and you do the rest yourself. We contact HMRC, the DWP, providers, trustees and former employers on your behalf, value every pot, and provide regulated advice.
If you remember every employer and want to do the chasing yourself, start with Gov.UK. If your work history is long, complicated, or you'd rather have someone do the legwork and tell you what each pot is worth, start with us.
Yes. Many people start with Gov.UK, then sign up to us when they realise there's more to track down or they want valuations and advice.
"Pension tracing service" is a literal description of what each does. We've operated under the trademark The Pension Tracing Service® since 2012; the Government's tool launched in 2016 and is colloquially called the same thing. We disclose the distinction on every page of our site to avoid confusion.
No. Gov.UK gives you the contact details for the scheme — you have to write to or phone the scheme to request a valuation. The Pension Tracing Service® gets the valuation for you as part of the trace.
No. We're a private firm; the Gov.UK tool is run by the DWP. We're not affiliated with, paid by, or managed by any Government body — but we do liaise with HMRC and the DWP where necessary as part of a trace.
The Government's Gov.UK tool is a directory. The Pension Tracing Service® is an end-to-end service. The Gov.UK tool is great if you remember the employer and want to do the chasing; we're built for everything in between — long messy work histories, valuations, regulated advice, and an optional way to bring everything together at the end.
You can also request contact details from the Pension Tracing Service by phone or by post.
The Pension Tracing Service
Telephone: 0800 1223 170
From outside the UK: +44 (0) 1782 389134
Monday to Friday, 9:30 am to 5:00 pm
Address
The Pension Tracing Service
The Lantern
High Street
Ilfracombe
EX34 9QB
Copyright 2026 by Pension Tracing Service®
The Pension Tracing Service® is a trading style of Millennial Wealth Ltd. We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA number 914746). Pinnacle House, 34 Newark Road, Peterborough, PE1 5YD. Registered company number 11557299.
Profile Pensions is a trading name of Profile Financial Solutions Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA number 596398). Registered office: Norwest Court, Guildhall Street, Preston, PR1 3NU.
This service is not affiliated with the Department for Work and Pensions or any government body. When you click to get started, you'll be taken to Profile Pensions to complete your sign-up and begin the Find, Check & Transfer service. Capital at risk: the value of investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you put in. Past performance is not a guide to future performance. Tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances and may change.
See how we handle your data.
