Reuniting people with their lost pensions
I worked on the Pension Tracing project at CIRCA5000, helping people locate and consolidate old pensions to make transferring to our sustainable SIPP easier.
My job was figuring out why users were dropping off in the transfer flow and designing a way to close that gap.
Intro
I found that most drop-offs happened when users hit a wall — they simply didn't have their pension provider, reference number, or pot size to hand.
Given that CIRCA5000's revenue depends on assets under management, I knew closing this gap mattered both for users and the business.
Challenge
Through research, I uncovered a huge knowledge gap: 83% of people had never used a pension tracing tool, and 4 in 10 didn't even know how many pensions they had.
On top of that, competitor analysis showed the industry relying on slow, paper-heavy processes that dragged transfers out for weeks.
Solution
I designed a tracing flow where users could submit past employment details and sign a digital Letter of Authority, letting our team chase down missing pensions on their behalf.
When providers kept rejecting our e-signatures for security reasons, I tested adding a 'digital scanned effect' to the authority letter, which significantly boosted approval rates.
Results
The impact was huge: assets under management grew 123%, from £3 million to £6.7 million, driven by successfully locating 903 pensions worth over £6.6 million.
It was a great example of how understanding user behaviour and iterating on email design can unlock real financial outcomes for people.
- +123%
- Growth in pensions under management — from £3M to £6.7M in under a year
- £6.6M+
- Successfully located and traced — 903 pensions in combined value
- £8,300
- Average pension pot transferred per client — real money reunited with real people
