Brits who have moved jobs could lose part or all of their pension from their previous employers because many schemes fail to keep accurate membership records, according to accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

PwC found that two-thirds of the schemes it deals with during the process of company takeovers had significant flaws in their records of their past employees' pension entitlements.

It said that new rules contained within the Pensions Act 2004, coupled with the increase in mergers and acquisition activity, revealed the "appalling" state of record keeping in company pension schemes.

Many membership records are lost or mis-allocated during takeovers as pension schemes are split and their members transferred to the new company.

Marc Hommel, a pensions actuary at PwC, said that every scheme in the country kept some degree of inaccurate information on their former employees.

He told the Telegraph: "Workers must keep track of their former employers and keep proof of any pension scheme entitlement, such as pay slips, contracts of employment, benefit statements and leaving service letters."

"Few people realise that it is their responsibility to keep in touch with former pension schemes, not the scheme trustees," he added.

Russell Agius, a director at actuarial firm Higham Group, said: "Poor record keeping could ultimately lead to you losing some, or all, of your pension."