Published 26 July 2026 · By James Chandler · 9 min read

Best pension tracker UK: the dashboard, consolidators and trackers, honestly compared

Most UK workers now retire with pensions scattered across half a dozen providers — a few workplace pots, maybe a final-salary promise, plus the State Pension. Three very different kinds of tool claim to put them in one place: the government's coming dashboard, consolidators that move your money, and trackers that just show it. They are not interchangeable. Here's the honest map, including where our own app fits and where it doesn't.

Why this is harder than it should be

The average UK career now spans a dozen employers, and auto-enrolment means nearly every one of them left you a pension pot. Add a possible final-salary scheme from an older job and your State Pension record, and "how much pension do I actually have?" becomes a genuinely difficult question — the pots live with different providers, in different units (a pot, a promise, and an income), behind different logins.

Three very different kinds of tool now claim to solve this. They are not interchangeable, and picking the wrong one can be expensive. Here's the honest map.

Option 1: The government's Pensions Dashboard (free, but not here yet)

The MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard is the state-backed answer: one free service showing your workplace, personal and State Pension entitlements together, with pension schemes legally required to connect. It's the right long-term answer for "what do I have and where?" — including pots you've forgotten about.

The catch is timing. As of 2026 the dashboard is still in consumer testing (a second phase began in March 2026), with around 3,000 providers and schemes being connected through 2025 and 2026 and no confirmed public launch date yet. When it arrives it will show entitlements and signpost guidance, but it won't value your final-salary promise as a capital sum, project your combined retirement income against a target, or show any of your non-pension wealth.

Option 2: Consolidators — PensionBee, Penfold and friends

Consolidators solve the many-pots problem by moving your money: they transfer your old DC pots into one new plan with them, then charge an annual percentage fee on the balance. One login, one pot, genuinely simpler — and for scattered small DC pots from old jobs, often a reasonable choice.

But be clear about what consolidation is: a product decision, not just an app download. Three things to check before transferring anything:

• Final-salary (DB) pensions generally shouldn't be transferred. You'd be giving up a guaranteed index-linked income for life; for transfers over £30,000 the FCA requires regulated financial advice, and that advice usually says keep it.
• Old schemes can carry valuable perks — guaranteed annuity rates, protected retirement ages, employer contributions still ticking in — that are lost on transfer.
• Compare the fees, not just the interface. A slick app charging more than your dusty old workplace scheme is a downgrade with better fonts.

Option 3: Trackers — see everything without moving anything

The third category doesn't touch your money at all: you record each pension where it already sits, and the app keeps the running total and projection. Aggregators like Moneyhub connect to providers electronically where supported; Wealthly (our app) takes the manual-first approach — you enter each pot's latest value, your DB scheme's promised income, and your State Pension forecast, and it handles the conversion into one comparable picture with a retirement projection.

The tracker approach has two real advantages: it's the only category that handles all three pension types today — DC pots, DB promises and the State Pension — and it can put your pensions alongside the rest of your wealth (property, savings, debts) rather than in a silo. The trade-off is honesty about effort: updating values is on you, typically ten minutes a quarter when your statements arrive.

Side by side

The honest recommendation

These categories complement each other more than they compete:

• Everyone: get your State Pension forecast from gov.uk (two minutes, free) and chase any lost pots via the Pension Tracing Service. When the MoneyHelper dashboard launches publicly, use it — it's free and authoritative for finding what exists.
• If your pots are scattered small DC pensions and you actively want fewer logins: a consolidator is defensible — after checking fees and lost perks, and leaving any DB scheme where it is.
• If you want the full picture now — DB promise valued properly, State Pension included, projection to a retirement income, and your pensions sitting alongside your house and savings rather than in a silo — that's the tracker category, and it's the specific gap Wealthly was built for.

And to be equally honest about our own limits: Wealthly doesn't hold or move money, doesn't connect to pension providers automatically (values are yours to update), and doesn't give advice. For transfer decisions — especially anything touching a final-salary scheme — a regulated financial adviser is the right answer, full stop.

Frequently asked questions

When does the UK Pensions Dashboard launch?

No public launch date has been confirmed. As of 2026 the MoneyHelper dashboard is in its second phase of consumer testing, with around 3,000 pension schemes and providers being connected through 2025–26. Schemes are required to connect ahead of the programme's statutory deadline, but public access comes only once testing completes.

How do I find a lost pension?

Use the government's free Pension Tracing Service on gov.uk — it finds the contact details of a scheme from your old employer's name. Then write to the provider with your details and rough employment dates to get a current value. Old auto-enrolment pots are often worth more than people expect.

Can any app show my final-salary pension properly?

Most can't, because a DB pension isn't a pot — it's a promised income. Wealthly records the promised annual amount and values it both ways: as retirement income in your projection and as an equivalent capital sum (roughly 20× the annual promise) in your net worth.

Is consolidating my pensions a good idea?

Sometimes — for scattered small DC pots it can genuinely simplify things. But check fees against your existing schemes, check for lost guarantees, and never transfer a final-salary pension without regulated advice (legally required above £30,000). Consolidation is a financial decision, not an app choice.

Does Wealthly move or hold my pension money?

No. Wealthly is tracking software only — it never holds, moves or touches your money. You record your pensions where they already sit, and it does the maths: one total, one projection, updated as you update it.

More reading: DB, DC and State Pension: how to track all three · Average net worth by age in the UK · Best net worth tracker UK compared