More than a quarter (26 per cent) of people do not know how much they and their employer are contributing to their pension, research from Hargreaves Lansdown has found.

A fifth (20 per cent) of respondents stated that their total pension contribution was less than £100 per month, with 13 per cent of men stating this was the case compared to 28 per cent of women.

Meanwhile, 18 per cent said that their total pension contribution was between £101 and £200 a month.

According to Hymans Robertson, the average 22-year-old person with a total contribution of £100 per month would end up with around £160,000 at the age of 65, assuming investment growth of 5 per cent a year.

Its analysis found this figure could be increased to £220,000 if they increased their total contribution by 2 per cent every year.

“Making tiny tweaks to what you and your employer pay in over time can have an enormous impact on what you end up with when you retire,” commented Hargreaves Lansdown senior pensions and retirement analyst, Helen Morrissey.

“Someone with a total contribution (employer and employee) of £100 per month into their pension throughout their working life can expect to end up with a pension of around £160,000 when they hit age 65 while someone paying a flat contribution of £200 per month could end up with around £321,000.

“However, making small increases to these amounts every year can make a huge difference. Increasing contributions by just 2 per cent every year would mean these people could end up with something closer to £220,000 and £441,000 respectively – these increases would have an enormous impact on your lifestyle in retirement.

“These are potentially huge gains for relatively little pain, and it is worth making sure you increase your contributions whenever possible - for instance when you get a pay increase or start a new job.

“While many employers only pay in the minimum they need to under auto-enrolment there are others who are willing to pay in more if you do and this will further boost your pension – it is always worth asking your employer if they do this – it could really improve your standard of living in retirement.”

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