Nearly one sixth (15 per cent) of UK adults do not know who will receive their pension savings if they pass away before taking them, rising to a "worrying" 18 per cent amongst those aged 79 and over, research from Aviva has revealed.

The survey showed that the majority (65 per cent) of respondents have chosen their partner/ spouse as their named beneficiary, while 20 per cent have selected a family member, and a small percentage say they are leaving their pension pot to a charity (4 per cent) or a friend (3 per cent).

However, 15 per cent are unsure who would inherit their pension, rising to 25 per cent of those who are living with a partner but are neither married nor in a civil partnership (and are therefore not registered as their next of kin).

In addition to this, a further 3 per cent believe the person they’ve nominated as their beneficiary may still be their ex-partner.

Gender discrepancies were found, as just over one in five (21 per cent) women do not know who their named nominee is, compared to 9 per cent of men.

Younger savers were also particularly unsure on this issue, as almost a third (30 per cent) of 16-24 year olds said they did not know who would inherit their pension pot.

Aviva suggested that this could be because they have been auto-enrolled into a workplace pension and have not given it much thought.

However, the firm highlighted the inconsistency across age groups and relationship status as demonstration of the need for individuals to regularly check and update their pension beneficiary information.

Commenting on the findings, Aviva direct wealth business managing director, Jo Phillips, said: "It's not surprising that people lose track of their pensions and therefore cannot remember who their pension beneficiary is.

"Some pension policies will date back decades and it’s likely that many people will have changed jobs; moved house and even been married, divorced and married again, in the intervening years.

“The money in your pension pot is one of your assets, just like your savings or your possessions, so we would encourage all our customers to review their pension nominees and make updates as needed. It’s easy to nominate a recipient. Most of the time, it can be done online without any fuss.”

This also builds on previous research from Hargreaves Lansdown, which found that two fifths (40 per cent) of people over 60 haven’t nominated who they want to inherit their pension when they’re gone, despite an increase in the number of people updating their expression of wish between 2022 and 2024.

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