As much as £37bn could be sitting in unclaimed pensions, according to estimates from Profile Pensions.

A report from the company said the average size of a lost pension was around £23,000.

Estimates from the Association of British Insurers put the number of unclaimed pensions at 1.6 million, leading Profile Pensions to estimate the value at £37bn.

Profile Pensions added that the average person was aware of 2.2 pensions, though their calculations suggested that the average amount of pensions held was actually 2.7 per person.

A quarter of under 55s thought they might have lost at least one of their pensions, according to data from a YouGov survey.

Profile Pensions' report said: “It’s not always easy to keep track of pensions, especially if you’ve changed your employer or pension scheme throughout your career.

“This, alongside auto-enrolment could mean the average worker – having 11 jobs in their career – could potentially have 11 different pension pots to track down ahead of retirement.

"More pensions mean more to lose and so it is more critical than ever to watch your pensions closely.”

Moving house and opting out of State Earnings Related Pension Schemes were also identified as risk factors, as movers can forget to notify pension providers of their new address and private pensions are more commonly forgotten about.

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