A fifth of people (19%) with multiple pensions think they’ve lost track of at least one of their retirement savings pots, according to new research from Standard Life.

The firm has launched a free pension finding tool powered by pension-finding platform Raindrop to help people track down their missing pots.

Despite the potential benefits of consolidating pensions, three quarters (73%) of those with more than one workplace pension said they have not consolidated. A third (32%) said they were unsure of how to start consolidating, and 12% found the process too difficult.

It’s estimated that 2.8m pension pots in the UK, valued at more than £26.6bn, remain unclaimed. The average person has at least 11 employers in their working lifetime.

Through the new service people can find their pension by providing an employer’s name and time period employed, rather than details of the pension provider in each previous role, as is often the case when consolidating pension pots. The tracing process on average takes four to six weeks.

Once a person’s lost pensions have been traced they will be better informed about their income prospects and able to take the necessary steps to better prepare for their retirement.

Since the launch of its pension-finding platform, fintech Raindrop said it has located more than £325m in lost pension savings across more than 27,000 pots.

Dean Butler, managing director of retail direct at Standard Life said: “Sometimes people have a vague idea of having a pension with a previous employer but then just don’t know how to go about finding it. Our new pension finding service removes the major hurdles that people face and allows them to regain control of their pensions savings.”

Vivan Shridharani, co-founder at Raindrop, said: “Millions of UK savers have lost pensions, often unsure of how to begin their search. As each new generation has more jobs than the last, the number of lost pensions continues to grow. By partnering with Standard Life we hope to empower savers to locate lost pots and take control of their long-term Financial Planning.”

Employers have been urged to help their workers track down forgotten pots ahead of National Pension Tracing Day later this month.

It was set up by Punter Southall four years ago and is now being led by employee benefits specialist SecondSight to encourage people to track down forgotten pension pots.

It hopes to persuade people to spend the extra hour when the clocks go back for winter on 27 October to start the search for lost pensions.

Gavin Zaprzala-Banks, SecondSight managing director, said: “Sadly, forgotten pensions are nothing new – providers have always spent considerable time and money to reconnect people with the savings they’ve left behind. So we created National Pension Tracing Day to go a step further by highlighting what everyone can do to crack this stubborn problem.”

This year, the initiative has received support from Aegon, Aviva, Legal & General Investment Management, Hargreaves Lansdown, Royal London, Scottish Widows, Smart Pension, Standard Life, and The People's Pension.

• Standard Life research was based on Opinium survey among 2,000 UK adults. Fieldwork was conducted 6 and 10 September. Data has been weighted to be nationally representative.