Pensions · UK Personal Finance
7 minute read · Updated February 2026
Changing jobs is exciting — but your workplace pension often gets left behind in the process. Many people end up with a trail of old pension pots from previous employers, each quietly growing (or not) without much attention. Understanding your options when you leave a job could make a meaningful difference to your retirement pot.
When you leave an employer, you do not lose your pension. The money you've built up — including your own contributions, your employer's contributions, and any investment growth — belongs to you. It sits in your pension pot with your former employer's chosen pension provider and continues to be invested according to the funds it was in.
What stops is new contributions. Your former employer will stop paying in, and unless you make arrangements to continue contributing personally, the pot just sits there growing (or falling) with the market.
The simplest option. Your old pension pot stays with the same provider, invested in the same funds. You're now a "deferred member" — you have no employer contributing and you're not making contributions yourself, but the money remains invested and continues to grow.
This is fine in the short term, but over a career with multiple jobs you can end up with 5, 6, or more old pots scattered across different providers — each charging fees, each needing tracking, and each easy to forget about.
Most workplace pension schemes accept transfers from previous pensions. You can consolidate your old pot into your new employer's scheme, simplifying your pension picture and keeping everything in one place.
Before doing this, check your new employer's scheme charges and investment options — they vary significantly. A scheme with higher charges or limited fund choice may not be worth transferring into.
A Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP) gives you full control over where your money is invested, often with lower charges than workplace schemes. Many people consolidate old workplace pensions into a SIPP for simplicity and control.
| Option | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| Leave it | Simple, no action needed | Multiple pots, easy to forget, ongoing charges |
| Transfer to new employer | Consolidated, one pot | May have worse fund choice or higher fees |
| Transfer to SIPP | Full control, often lower charges, flexible | Requires more active management |
If your old employer had a defined benefit (DB) or final salary pension — common in the public sector and older private sector jobs — the rules are very different. A DB pension promises a specific income in retirement based on your salary and years of service. These are extremely valuable and generally should not be transferred without very careful consideration.
The UK has an estimated £26 billion in lost or forgotten pension pots. If you've changed jobs several times and aren't sure where all your old pensions are, you can use the government's free Pension Tracing Service at gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details to track them down using your former employer's name.
Most modern workplace pensions in the UK vest immediately — meaning employer contributions are yours from day one. However, some schemes (particularly older ones or those with enhanced employer contributions) have vesting periods where you must stay for a minimum time before employer contributions become fully yours.
Check your scheme's terms. If you're a few months away from a vesting date and considering leaving, it may well be worth staying.
Under auto-enrolment law, your new employer must enrol you into their workplace pension scheme, typically within three months of starting (or immediately for many employers). The minimum total contribution is 8% of qualifying earnings (3% from employer, 5% from you).
Don't just accept the default contribution rate — check what your new employer will match, and make sure you're contributing enough to get all of it.
If you have a defined benefit pension: almost certainly leave it or seek FCA-regulated advice before transferring. If you have a defined contribution pension (most modern workplace schemes): compare charges, consider consolidating into a SIPP or new employer scheme if it simplifies things and reduces costs. If in doubt, leave it for now and revisit when you have time to compare properly.
Starting a new job is a great time to review your contributions. See how different levels of employer matching affect your pot at retirement.
Open the pension calculator →