As we reach the middle of Pension Awareness Week, now is a good time to check the robustness of your pension arrangements.
The national campaign is designed to increase understanding of pensions and encourage people to be more proactive with their retirement planning.
It may not be your priority. Our December 2025 survey showed that one in eight respondents would rather go to the dentist than spend an hour planning their retirement.
Here, we share six steps to help you gain more control over your retirement savings.
6 steps to improve the health of your pensions
1. Track down all of your pensions
The first step should be to get all the information you need to assess your pension situation.
If you've regularly changed jobs, it's likely you've built up multiple pension pots in different places, some of which you may have lost track of.
There are estimated to be around 3.3m 'lost' pensions in the UK valued at £31.1bn in total, each worth an average of £9,470.
Pension providers must send you an annual statement, so start by searching for old paperwork to find details of forgotten pots.
This will give you the name and contact details of the provider of an employer's scheme.
Find out more:2. Come up with a current total
Next, you can attempt to produce a current total for your pension savings.
Which? research from May 2026 found that 49% of people didn’t know how much they’d saved into their pension.
Check your pension statement or online account to see how much you and your employer have saved.
Your statement will usually include an estimate of the annual income your pot could eventually provide in retirement, based on certain assumptions and with inflation factored in.
Only 54% of people in our August 2026 survey knew how much their current employers pay into their workplace pension.
Many employers pay in more than the minimum, so make sure you’re making the most of their contributions.
Find out more:3. Are you on target?
The subsequent, and possibly the most difficult, challenge is to compare what you have (or are projected to have at retirement) with what you think you’ll need.
Our May 2026 survey found that 51% of UK adults who aren't yet retired don't feel confident that they're saving enough for retirement.
The latest figures show that single-person households need £13,900 a year for a minimum standard of living, rising to £32,700 for a moderate standard and £45,400 to be comfortable. For couples, the equivalent figures are £22,500, £45,400 and £62,700.
How much you need each year in retirement
With all that information in mind, you’ll need to ask yourself whether your fund is projected to be enough.
Find out more:4. Review how much is going into your pensions
If you think that you're falling behind your retirement saving targets, it might be time to review your contribution levels.
The minimum you have to pay into a workplace pension is 8% of your salary. This is made up of 5% from you (including tax relief from the government) and 3% from your employer.
If you can afford to pay more than the minimum or make extra contributions from time to time – for example, if you get a bonus – this will make a big difference to your pot over the long term.
Our August 2026 research showed that 32% of employees had increased their contributions above the minimum level and 19% had made ad-hoc additional contributions.
Calculations by Standard Life show that an employee increasing their contributions from 5% to 7% at the age of 22 could end up with a pot worth an extra £52,000 (adjusted for inflation) by the age of 68.
Some employers will match your contributions, giving your savings even more of a boost. This was the case for 55% of employees paying into a workplace pension in our August 2026 survey.
Find out more:5. Consider the passing on of your pensions
The next step is to think about the unthinkable.
Take the time to ensure that you have nominated who your pension should go to when you die. This can usually be done easily online via your pension provider’s website.
If you don’t nominate beneficiaries on all your pensions, this could create a headache for the scheme trustees – at whose discretion the money will be paid out – and for the person you'd intended to receive the money.
Find out more:6. Use the Pension Wise service
Finally, if you need assistance with any of this, there is some help out there.
Pension Wise offers hour-long appointments, which can be held face to face (at Citizens Advice offices), by telephone or online. You need to be 50 or over and have a defined contribution pension to be eligible.
The session covers when you can access your pension pots, the different ways you can take money from your pension, how you'll be taxed on this income and how to spot scams.
Find out more:source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/6-steps-to-get-your-pension-fit-for-retirement-aU6ZD0x7ciOj