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Getting a personal or company pension forecast

You can ask your pension provider for a forecast of what your pension will pay when you retire. The pension provider may be your employer if you contribute to a company (occupational) pension scheme, or your personal pension provider.

Your pension provider will regularly send you certain information, for example an annual statement of your pension fund's value. This should include a forecast of your pension income at retirement age.

Bear in mind that your forecast is only an estimate and is based on a number of assumptions, including:

All of these factors could change at any time, in which case you might need to get a new forecast.

Getting a State Pension forecast

A State Pension forecast will tell you the current value of your State Pension and what income you can expect to receive at State Pension age based on your National Insurance record to date and assumptions made around any future contributions you may make before you reach State Pension age.

• Find out more about getting a State Pension forecast Opens new window

Getting a Combined Pension Forecast

It's often useful to get an idea of the full income you might expect when you retire.

A Combined Pension Forecast gives you an estimate of your total income in retirement by combining the details of your personal or occupational pension with your State Pension forecast. 

A Combined Pension Forecast is provided on a voluntary basis by employers and pension providers in partnership with The Pension Service. You will need to check that your scheme is participating in the service.

Finding an old pension

If you have lost track of a personal or company pension scheme and are not sure of the details the Pension Tracing Service can usually help you to find it - free of charge.

Contact the Pension Tracing Service on 0845 6002 537 (lines are open 8.00 am to 6.00 pm Monday to Friday), on +44 191 218 2466 from outside the UK, by textphone on 0845 3000 169, or by completing an online application form on The Pension Service website.

• Tracing a lost pension online Opens new window

If you're worried about your forecast

If you're worried that you may not be paying enough in to your pension, a pension calculator will show what would happen if you paid more.

If you decide you want to contribute more, talk to your employer (if you have a company pension) or personal pension provider about increasing your payments.

If you have problems getting a forecast from your pension provider, or are concerned that your fund is being poorly managed, there are a number of bodies you can turn to.

• Complaining about problems with your pension scheme
• Use the FSA pension calculator Opens new window

More useful links

• Find out if you're a taxpayer or non-taxpayer in retirement
• More about pensions in general