Original article can be found <span style="color: #4bbb87;"><a style="color: #4bbb87;" href="https://www.gretel.co.uk/news-for-you/why-losing-your-job-shouldnt-mean-losing-your-pension/">here</a></span>

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<h3>In such uncertain times the threat of losing financial assets couldn’t be worse</h3>
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<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Unfortunately, every other day brings news of further job cuts in the UK. The country is now officially in recession and many of Britain’s biggest companies are already feeling it. Debenhams, Marks &amp; Spencer, British Airways and Pizza Express (to name a few) have all announced thousands of redundancies. This will likely get worse as the Bank of England expects the jobless rate to hit 7.5% by the end of the year.Unsurprisingly, this is impacting how Britons feel about their job security. Recent research by Gretel found that four in 10 working Brits (39%) do not feel fully secure in their current job, with one in 10 (9%) revealing they have already had to take a pay cut or work reduced hours to secure their job.This is especially the case for younger people whom our research found to be particularly vulnerable to job insecurity. Our survey findings show 11% of 18-34 year olds have had to take a pay cut or work reduced hours, with 4% admitting they had already lost their job.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Redundancy is a confusing and upsetting time, which is why life changing events like this have led to over £50bn being misplaced by the British public.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><b>You read that right.</b></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">As remarkable as it sounds, over £50bn has been forgotten or overlooked by Brits, now lying scattered around in pensions, bank accounts, child trust funds and other similar assets.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">Life is complicated and messy, which is why so many of these accounts slip through the cracks and become known as ‘dormant assets’ (especially during things like divorce, house moves or career changes). Tellingly, only 9% of Brits told us they had had experienced no life changes that could make them susceptible to losing money.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">Thankfully, it is now much easier for people to find their dormant assets. Whether you are unemployed and want to know how much you have in dormant assets to help with the bills, or you are just generally wary about losing control of money as you go through life, you could turn to Gretel.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">Gretel is a new and free service specifically designed to help connect people with their dormant assets. This simple and easy-to-use solution uses state of the art technology to automatically match people with their money – wherever it is! Millions of Brits have money they forgot they had, are you one of them?</span></p>

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Why losing your job shouldn’t mean losing your pension

Original article can be found <span style="color: #4bbb87;"><a style="color: #4bbb87;" href="https://www.gretel.co.uk/news-for-you/it%E2%80%99s-time-to-claim-what%E2%80%99s-yours/">here</a></span>

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<h3>There is a staggering £51.6bn of so-called dormant assets in the UK</h3>
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<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The term "dormant assets" refers to pensions, bank accounts and other financial products that have been forgotten by their owners and have languished, untouched, often for many years. These eye-opening statistics reveal:</span></p>

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 	<li class="li1"><span class="s1">More than 10 million people have bank and building society accounts they forgot to close, with £4.5bn collecting dust in vaults around the country.
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 	<li class="li1"><span class="s1">There is currently £37bn in unclaimed pensions, meaning 1.6 million people are missing out on an average value of £23,125 each.
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 	<li class="li1"><span class="s1">Nearly £10bn more is sitting idly in investment and shares accounts, life insurance policies, child trust funds owned (and forgotten) by around 8 million savers.
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<p class="p2"><span class="s1"><b>WE KNOW THAT LIFE GETS IN THE WAY</b></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Although £51.6bn is a huge amount, it is a gradual result of everyday life getting in the way of personal administrative tasks for millions of savers. When juggling work, family, day-to-day chores and still making enough time to relax, it’s easy to forget about your first bank account, a child trust fund from a great grandparent or an old pension pot you were saving into several job moves ago.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Over time, these forgotten billions reached a tipping point, leading the government to set up the Dormant Assets Commission to look at the issue. Investigations by the commission, set up in 2016, led to the decision that if the rightful owner of monies could not be traced then assets unclaimed after 15 years will be awarded to charitable causes.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">But while this is great for charities, what about the original owners of this money?</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The problem for most people is that they are unaware of how much they might have in dormant assets and wouldn’t know how to start to get them back even if they knew where they were. So, it’s easy to see how this financial housekeeping can fall down the list of priorities.</span></p>
<p class="p2"><span class="s1"><b>HOWEVER, COVID-19 HAS CHANGED EVERYTHING.</b></span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">The virus has created an unprecedented economic crisis, shutting down a huge range of business sectors and resulting in 8.9 million workers being furloughed on reduced salaries. Many others don’t even have that to rely on during this period, with the <span style="color: #4bbb87;"><a style="color: #4bbb87;" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-53060529"><span class="s2">Office for National Statistics</span></a></span> revealing 600,000 jobs were cut between the beginning of March and the 14th May. Worryingly, debt advice charity <span style="color: #4bbb87;"><a style="color: #4bbb87;" href="https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/jun/09/uk-households-face-6bn-debts-because-of-covid-19-says-charity"><span class="s2">StepChange</span></a></span> has calculated that 4.6 million households risk building up dangerous levels of borrowing because of the pandemic. Faced with an uncertain future, more families are having to reassess their finances and look to their savings just to keep up with everyday expenses.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Amid this tough environment, imagine uncovering forgotten shares worth £1,250? An old bank account with £450 sitting in it? Or even a child trust fund worth £2,200? According to the newest data, these are the average sums many people do not realise they can access. In a challenged economy, being able to reclaim this kind of money could make a real difference to many families.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Happily, there is now an easy way to find out just how much of this £51.6bn is yours, where and how to find it. And, best of all, it is free.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Taking its name from the fairy-tale character and her famous trail of breadcrumbs, Gretel is the new service designed to help people like you find everything from your first bank account to a forgotten pension.</span></p>
Follow our path to find your dormant assets and see how much you could reclaim today.

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It's time to claim what's yours

By <span style="color: #4bbb87;"><a style="color: #4bbb87;" href="https://www.intelliteq.co.uk/">IntelliTeq</a></span>

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<p style="text-align: center;"><b>Gretel’s new study found only 39% of working Brits feel fully secure in their current job</b></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><b>15% of Brits have moved house eight of more times in their adult life and 8% have changed jobs eight or more times</b></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><b>Estimated 19.6 million people in the UK have become disconnected from their money, valued at £50 billion</b><sup>1</sup><b></b></p>
Almost 9.7 million<sup>2</sup> Brits (18%) have had four or more life changes during their adult life that leaves them susceptible to losing a financial account or asset, such as a bank account, pension or savings account, according to Gretel, the free online service which helps people bring lost accounts, pensions and investments back home.

Moving house, getting married or divorced, and changing jobs, are all common ways that consumers can become disconnected from their financial assets, leaving them lost or classed as dormant.  Gretel’s new study has found women are more likely to experience a large number of life changes during their adult life (29% of women vs 8% of men have had four or more life changes) as are those aged over 55 years (30% have had 4+ life changes). Only 9% of all Brits claim to have had no life changes that could make them susceptible.

In fact, as the UK economy enters into a recession for the first time in 11 years, the study has found that only four in 10 (39%) of all working Brits feel secure in their current job. One in 10 (10%) working adults has considered moving job unrelated to Covid 19, a further 9% have had to take a pay cut or work reduced hours to ensure they have employment (rising to 12% among men) and 6% have, or plan to, retrain to consider a different role or vocation, while 7% have set-up, or are considering setting up, their own business.

Gretel estimates that 19.6 million<sup>2</sup> people in the UK have become disconnected from financial services products and are sitting on dormant or unclaimed money, including 10 million bank accounts, 2.5 million life insurance policies and 1.6 million pensions, with a collective value of over £50 billion.

<strong>Duncan Stevens, Chief Executive of Gretel said</strong>: “When people get married, move home and change jobs, it is often difficult to keep track of every bank account, pension and investment along the way.  Our study shows that so many people are making these life changes at a frequent rate during their lifetime that could leave them susceptible to losing a financial asset or account. In the current climate, the economic impact of the lockdown looks set to create more life changes as people feel increasingly vulnerable in their jobs.

“At Gretel, we want to get the £50 billion of dormant, lost and unclaimed money back into the hands of the consumer, where it belongs. Our belief is that consumers are entitled to receive all the money due to them and should not have to pay to get their own money back, nor face numerous complex barriers to access it. We are opening pre-registration now because this is a time of financial uncertainty for many and being reunited with forgotten money could make all the difference to some people. “

The study found that 15% of Brits have moved house eight or more times in their adult life and 8% have changed jobs eight or more times. Almost a fifth (19%) have changed their name, rising to 28% among the over 55s, 12% have got divorced (23% of over 55s) and over a third (34%) have been married/remarried (52% of over 55s).

While many financial services companies have an obligation to reunite customers with their lost money, many only have part of a customer’s financial picture. The launch of Gretel reflects the recommendations of the Government’s Independent Commission on Dormant Assets which called for the extension of the scheme beyond banking to include the rest of the financial services industry and made it a priority for firms to attempt to reunify dormant assets with their rightful owners.

Once Gretel is fully launched consumers will be able to identify lost pots of money in old financial accounts in less than three minutes. Once lost accounts are flagged to the customer, Gretel provides an easy path for them to reclaim it.  Uniquely, once a customer has signed up with Gretel, the service will keep working for them to constantly look for lost monies and flag any new accounts as and when they are identified. As Gretel prepares to launch and bring on banks, insurers and pension companies, consumers can log on and pre-register with Gretel by simply submitting their email address – <span style="color: #4bbb87;"><strong><a style="color: #4bbb87;" href="http://www.gretel.co.uk/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.gretel.co.uk&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1598364853959000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH1Oc8e9_JN-ELh65e7c1lcaaUyyA">www.gretel.co.uk</a></strong>.</span>

<strong>For further information, please contact:</strong>

Louise Ahuja, LouiseBComms

<span style="color: #4bbb87;"><a style="color: #4bbb87;" href="http://louise@louisebcomms.co.uk/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://louise@louisebcomms.co.uk/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1598364853959000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHzQ5oS1-qen0Ny0KUtgjMGVFieMQ">louise@louisebcomms.co.uk/</a></span> +44 7788 676913

Karen Mignon, LouiseBComms

karenemignon@gmail.com / +44 7766 651327

<strong>Notes to editors</strong>

The research was conducted by Opinium Research between 7-11 August 2020 among 2,003 adults in the UK.

<sup>1</sup> – 18% of the 52,673,000 million UK population (based on 368/52,673,000 (UK adult population) = 9,677,316 or 9.7 million.

<sup>2 </sup>- Based on Intelliteq’s calculations below:
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td width="163"><strong>Financial Product</strong></td>
<td width="118"><strong>Total lost/dormant</strong></td>
<td width="138"><strong>Number of people effected</strong></td>
<td width="120"><strong>Average value</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="163">Pensions</td>
<td width="118">£37bn</td>
<td width="138">1.6m</td>
<td width="120">£23,125</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="163">Shares</td>
<td width="118">£2.5bn</td>
<td width="138">2.0m</td>
<td width="120">£1,250</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="163">Bank &amp; Building Society Accounts</td>
<td width="118">£4.5bn</td>
<td width="138">10.0m</td>
<td width="120">£450</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="163">Wealth &amp; Investments</td>
<td width="118">£2.8bn</td>
<td width="138">1.0m</td>
<td width="120">£2,800</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="163">Life Insurance</td>
<td width="118">£2.0bn</td>
<td width="138">2.5m</td>
<td width="120">£800</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="163">Child Trust Funds</td>
<td width="118">£2.2bn</td>
<td width="138">1.0m</td>
<td width="120">£2,200</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="163">NS&amp;I</td>
<td width="118">£60m</td>
<td width="138">1.5m</td>
<td width="120">£40</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<strong> </strong>

<strong>Notes to editors</strong>

Gretel is part of IntelliTeq, which focuses on simplifying complex financial processes. IntelliTeq solutions assist companies in complying with regulatory challenges around data and empower customers through the use of proprietary technology.

Duncan Stevens, Tom Simmonds and Ashley Hollands, as the founders of Gretel, have over 60 years of experience in financial services and technology between them. They have run some of the largest financial tracing businesses in the UK, returning over £2.5bn in forgotten and dormant assets to over 1.5m people.

They have been directly involved with the Government’s Independent Commission on Dormant Assets in recent years and, in response to the Commission’s recommendations, have built Gretel as a free to use platform for consumers, transforming the ease and speed with which they are able to find their money, regardless of where it is in the financial system it was lost.

<strong>How will Gretel work?</strong>

Gretel is designed to help consumers find everything from their first bank account to a forgotten pension. It uses cutting edge technology to make the financial world a smaller place, bringing together companies and consumers creating a “hub” which acts as a one stop shop for finding and recovering lost assets.

Gretel will cover the whole financial industry in the UK including bank accounts, pensions, child trust funds, premium bonds, investments and life insurance policies.

Gretel uses intelligent technology to see a customer’s past ‘financial path’, where they might have left money and then helps them reclaim it.

Once Gretel has found a customer’s pots of money, it will then connect them with the bank, investment company, pension provider and walk them through how to reclaim their money.

And importantly membership to the Gretel platform and its use is free. Our belief is that consumers are entitled to receive all of the value of the money due to them and should not have to pay to get back their own money.

One In Five Brits Has Experienced Four Or More Life Changes Making Them Susceptible To Losing A Financial Asset Such As A Pension Or Bank Account

<p>In the UK, there is £50 billion in dormant assets due to 20 million people. IntelliTeq has built Gretel, a state-of-the-art AI-driven platform to help corporates across all financial sectors to reconnect with their customers and get their money back via a frictionless digital concierge experience.</p>
<p>At IntelliTeq, our vision is to create a community empowered by technology that enables engagement, fairness and financial clarity for all its members.</p>
<p>We are focused on two key things:</p>
<p>i) Helping our members to find the path back to assets and investments which have become "lost in the system"; ii) Empowering our members to feel more in charge of the financial lives and futures.</p>
<p>We have built "Gretel" (<span style="color: #4bbb87;"><a style="color: #4bbb87;" href="http://www.gretel.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.gretel.co.uk&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1597140334979000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEvkGCLBWxufiajh5D3iqMHXafjTA">www.gretel.co.uk</a></span>), a free to consumer digital hub that uses modern technology to seamlessly interface with an ecosystem of financial institutions to deliver a one stop shop for finding and recovering lost assets. Through a network of partners, we are also able to connect our members with products and services that will help them stay connected with their assets and provide options for making the most of out their money.</p>
<p>Gretel is part of IntelliTeq, led by Duncan Stevens, Tom Simmonds and Ashley Hollands, with over 60 years of experience in financial services and technology between them.</p>


IntelliTeq

In the UK, there is £50 billion in dormant assets due to 20 million people. IntelliTeq has built Gretel, a state-of-the-art AI-driven platform to help corporates across all financial sectors to reconnect with their customers and get their money back via a frictionless digital concierge experience.

At IntelliTeq, our vision is to create a community empowered by technology that enables engagement, fairness and financial clarity for all its members.

We are focused on two key things:

i) Helping our members to find the path back to assets and investments which have become "lost in the system"; ii) Empowering our members to feel more in charge of the financial lives and futures.

We have built "Gretel" (<span style="color: #4bbb87;"><a style="color: #4bbb87;" href="http://www.gretel.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.gretel.co.uk&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1597140334979000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEvkGCLBWxufiajh5D3iqMHXafjTA">www.gretel.co.uk</a></span>), a free to consumer digital hub that uses modern technology to seamlessly interface with an ecosystem of financial institutions to deliver a one stop shop for finding and recovering lost assets. Through a network of partners, we are also able to connect our members with products and services that will help them stay connected with their assets and provide options for making the most of out their money.

Gretel is part of IntelliTeq, led by Duncan Stevens, Tom Simmonds and Ashley Hollands, with over 60 years of experience in financial services and technology between them.

Chief Technology Officer, IntelliTeq

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A Technology and project management expert with over 20 years of enterprise level IT leadership</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Consulting experience working with companies including Volkswagen UK, B&amp;Q, Zanussi and Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea football clubs developing and integrating various IT systems</span></p>


Ashley Hollands

Chief Operating Officer, IntelliTeq

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">20 years of business leadership experience with SMEs, Private Equity and FTSE 250 with focus on technology, operations and data</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ran Equiniti’s Asset Reunification business returning over £1 billion to investors; designed and implemented Innovation Group’s data science strategy</span></p>
