The Pension Tracing Service received 31,505 calls between 1 January and 24 May this year, putting it on course to overtake last year's record of 63,381.

The service received more than 276,000 calls since January 2019, according to a recent freedom of information request from Hargreaves Lansdown (HL), and demand is growing.

However, HL's head of retirement analysis, Helen Morrissey, said these figures "barely scratch the surface" of lost pensions.

She pointed to research from the Pensions Policy Institute, which estimated that around 2.8 million pension pots had been lost in the UK, with nearly 1 in 10 workers believing they could have lost a pension pot worth more than £10,000.

She said: "We move jobs several times during our career, and it can be easy to lose track of that small pension you had in your first job. However, what if you were to find out that that tiny pension you had has grown and could make a significant impact on your retirement?"

This is the reality for many people who could be missing out on thousands of pounds that could be turned into a retirement income."

While the advent of auto-enrolment has "more of us saving than ever," Morrissey continued, "as we move through our careers, we don't keep contact details updated, and so there's a chance we lose track."

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