Industry research has highlighted a "growing need" for the pensions dashboards, with a poll from Interactive Investor revealing that more than one in eight (13 per cent) people do not know how many workplace pension pots they have.

The poll, which was conducted amongst the platform's customers, with an average age of 55, found thatt 41 per cent had two to four pension pots, whilst 39 per cent stated that they had "just one".

Meanwhile, only 5 per cent of respondents stated that they had 4 to 6 old work pensions, whilst 2 per cent had more than six.

The group highlighted the findings as evidence of a growing need for the pensions dashboards, with Interactive Investor head of pensions and savings, Becky O’Connor, stressing that ignorance is not bliss when it comes to keeping on top of old workplace schemes.

She stated: “The mystery of missing pensions is one you definitely want to solve as over the years, investment growth – even for pots you haven’t been contributing to – can add up to thousands of pounds.

"That is money few of us can afford to ignore in retirement. You wouldn’t just leave a cheque for a few thousand pounds uncashed. So why do we leave old pensions to turn to dust?

“As well as just finding out how much your total pension wealth is worth, another reason to identify old pensions is that you might be paying too much in charges on them."

O'Connor emphasised that high percentage charges, particularly on old pots, can end up stripping thousands of pounds from retirement wealth without savers even realising, stressing that fee erosion is a particular problem for smaller pots that are not generating much investment growth.

Indeed, the findings echo previous industry research which found a "massive knowledge gap" around pension savings, with 42 per cent of savers unsure how much they are paying pension fees.

However, O'Conner stressed that the good news is that there are ways for savers can locate old pension schemes and consolidate them if that is in their best interests.

She concluded: “The number of old workplace pensions is expected to grow during the decades following auto-enrolment, with more people than ever signed up to a pension through their employer and changes in the labour market resulting in people having more jobs – and therefore more pensions – throughout their working lives.

“The government may be producing a pensions dashboards, allowing us all to see all of our pensions in one place. But until that is developed, there are ‘DIY dashboard’ options, such as self-invested personal pensions, available.”

The findings also follow the recent report from the small pension pots working group, which outlined a series of recommendations for the government and industry to help tackle the increasing number of small, deferred pension pots.

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