FOR most people, saving for a comfortable retirement is a key goal.

However, according to Government estimates there is £400m lying around in unclaimed pension accounts.

My father worked for the same company for nay on 30 years and while the thought to him of someone mislaying potentially thousands of pounds is unbelievable, I can sympathise.

Most of us now work for more than one employer during our career.

I am reliably informed that people hold, on average, 11 jobs during their working life, potentially leading to as many workplace pensions.

Is some of this £400m pot yours?

To assist individuals laying claim, the pension tracing service has launched a new website designed to help track down these unclaimed accounts.

Requesting help is straightforward and thankfully free.

Simply enter the details of past employers into the department of working pensions website, gov.uk/find-pension-contact-details, and it will provide details of any pension schemes run by that company.

You will then be required to call the scheme provider and give them as much information about yourself and your service history as possible.

Of course, more diligent individuals may not need to use the tracing service.

If you have kept documentation about the scheme, you can write directly to the pension scheme manager.

To add an extra layer of complexity, some companies may have changed their pension arrangements – for example a firm may close a scheme based on final salary replacing it with a plan based on fixed contributions – it is therefore possible to have a number of pensions with the same employer.

Ultimately it is no surprise to me that the pension tracing service is getting busier.

It dealt with 169,000 requests in the year to March 2016 and requests have risen more than five-fold over the last decade.

Why is it so important?

The main benefit of tracking down funds is that it obviously increases the value of your retirement assets.

Some pension accounts may have been started earlier in your career therefore the value could have increased considerably because of the length of time it has been invested.

Accessing details of all your pensions will also give valuable information about their terms and investment policies.

The pensions system has changed dramatically in recent years and savers could find some of the older schemes have high charges, are inflexible or offer a restricted range of fund choices.

Last year’s “pension freedom” reforms introduced greater flexibility on when and how pensions can be accessed, but some older pensions may not be able to take full advantage of this.

Anyone with a number of pensions may consider amalgamating them into one pot.

However, this decision is not straightforward; different schemes may offer different death benefits, valuable guarantees may be lost or there could be significant penalties for transferring the funds.

Unsurprisingly, that means it is essential to seek professional advice before making any decisions.

Accessing old pension schemes also gives the opportunity to review the investment policy of rediscovered pensions – something which too few savers do.

It is all too common for investors to believe that their money is “working hard for them” just because it is not held in a bank account.

In reality, investments differ significantly and your pension assets are an incredibly important part of your wealth.

I would argue it is important that individuals at least dedicate as much time to reviewing their pension assets as they do to purchasing a new car.

This seems obvious when written down in black and white, however, I suspect a large proportion of us spend more time on the latter.

My old man included.

Gary Welford is an investment manager at wealth management firm, Brewin Dolphin, in Newcastle.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily the views held throughout Brewin Dolphin. No director, representative or employee of Brewin Dolphin accepts liability for any direct or consequential loss arising from the use of this document or its contents. Any tax allowances or thresholds mentioned are based on personal circumstances and current legislation which is subject to change.