THE MAJORITY of Scots do not know where all their pensions are and one in six have no idea where any of their pensions are, according to exclusive statistics provided to The Herald.

But the UK Government’s promised pensions dashboard, which would enable all workers to keep track of all their savings, has fallen behind schedule, with a feasibility study now months overdue.

A UK survey has found that seven out of 10 workers with a private or workplace pension scheme back the creation of a single pensions dashboard, as 47 per cent admit they do not know how much they have saved for their retirement.

In Scotland, that figure jumps to 58 per cent. The YouGov survey for The People’s Pension found that 20 per cent of Scots do not know how many pension pots they have.

For those currently in a workplace pension, 29 per cent could not name their provider.

The survey found 58 per cent of respondents in Scotland do not know where all the details of their pension pots are, 16 per cent do not know where any of them are, and 23 per cent have lost track of a pension.

Dave Brown at The People’s Pension, the UK’s second largest multi-employer pension provider with almost four million members, said: “The current pensions system creates too many hurdles for people who want to find out how much they’ve saved and puts people off from planning for retirement until the last minute.

“The average person builds up 11 pension pots over their lifetime, causing, as these findings highlight, a very real risk that pots will be lost or forgotten, with people left unaware of what they’ve saved.”

The pensions dashboard had a target launch date of April 2019, but a feasibility study due three months ago has yet to appear. Whether it will be a single dashboard or multiple ones has yet to be decided, and legislation may be needed to compel all providers to take part to ensure every saver is covered.

A more radical ‘pot follows member’ system was championed by former pensions minister Sir Steve Webb and was supposed to have been launched in 2016, enabling millions of workers who will potentially build multiple pension pots over their careers to have one portable and cost-effective plan.

But the measure was shelved in April, after opposition from the industry, which argued the system was impractical and could see some workers’ savings being shifted into inferior company pensions.

Mr Brown added: “A single dashboard, free from commercial conflict and backed up by legislation, as called for by cross-party MPs, will save people significant amounts of time, stress and hassle.

"It will ensure they keep track of all their savings, have all the information needed to make the important decisions about their financial future, and will allow them to watch their savings grow and compound over time, helping them to understand what their retirement might look like.”

Meanwhile, those who have been auto-enrolled into a pension at work could be funding toxic armament makers or tax-avoiding companies, according to responsible investment watchdog ShareAction.

The charity has audited the big auto-enrolment providers, which run the savings of nearly nine million workers, on their approaches to responsible investment, ethics, and how well they engage and communicate with their own members.

Six out of nine providers fail to take a stand on weapons investment, seven are lax on tax avoidance, eight have no firm policies on climate change, and eight have boards or committees that are less than 30 per cent female, the report found.

It found that despite 90 per cent of the UK’s population viewing tax avoidance by large companies as morally wrong, only NEST and Royal London have specific policies encouraging responsible tax conduct by investee companies.

NEST - created by the Government as a fallback option for workplaces without pensions - has a measurable target to reduce its portfolio’s exposure to climate risks. On the issue of engagement and communication with members no provider performed well.

ShareAction recommends that providers produce a “statement of responsible investment principles” that should apply as much to the default fund, where most workers end up, as to “ethical” fund choices.

Paul Britton of ShareAction, said: “Of course, auto-enrolment pension providers cannot be solely blamed for Britain’s retirement cliff-edge, but they do need to act on their key position to engage the nine million newly enrolled workers with their pension savings. Hoping members don’t opt-out as minimum contribution rates rise is not enough - people need compelling reasons to save.”