Two in five suffer DB transfer problems

21% said their old scheme is reluctant to help and 17% claim their it is delaying the transfer.

Additionally, 17% of workers saving into a scheme don’t even realise they can transfer a fund from a previous job, while an additional 10% say they don’t know how to do so. Findings further show that another 14% think the process is “complicated and confusing”.

Women are less likely to know about pension transfer options. Around 20% of women compared with 13% of men said they didn’t know they could transfer a scheme into a new employer’s pension plan.

The pattern is the same when it comes to not knowing how to carry out such a transfer, with 12% of women admitting this compared to just 7% of men.

Simon Massey, Wealth Management Director at MetLife UK, said: “Over the last few years huge steps have been made to reduce transfer times which is excellent news for customers and goes some way to tackling the problems of those who may have experienced lengthy transfer delays in the past.

“However there is more to do to improve people’s understanding about their pensions and the options available. It’s much easier to keep track of one retirement pot rather than numerous smaller ones and anything that makes it easier for people to transfer must be encouraged, and the Pensions Dashboard goes a long way to help achieve this.

“The importance of getting it right first time with pensions cannot be overstated – you only get one chance to build up a retirement pot. People should seek expert advice when it comes to their retirement – it will empower them to remove any obstacles when it comes to pensions transfers.”