A quarter, 24%, of people have little to no idea about how much they and their employers are paying into their pension.

People were most likely to say they contribute somewhere between £101 and £200 per month, with 17% guessing that level, according to new research.

Hargreaves Lansdown found that basic rate taxpayers were significantly more likely to have no idea how much money was being paid into their pension, with 24% admitting they did not have a clue.

That compares to 12% of higher rate taxpayers and 2% of top rate taxpayers.

Three-fifths, 57%, of basic rate taxpayers believed they contributed between £1 and £300 to their pension each month.

Almost a third, 30%, of additional rate taxpayers have between £1,501 and £2,000+ invested in their pension each month.

Clare Stinton, head of workplace saving analysis at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Auto-enrolment has got millions more people saving for retirement, but many are doing so blindly – one in four don’t know how much they and their employer are paying into their pension.”

She said basic rate taxpayers were far more likely to be in the dark than higher earners.

She added: “Yet even one in 10 of those in the 40% tax bracket don’t know what they’re contributing.

“For higher earners this lack of awareness could be costly for those who need to actively claim any extra tax relief from HMRC on pension contributions. Failing to do so could mean leaving thousands of pounds on the table unclaimed.”

• Figures from a survey of 1,000 people by Opinium for Hargreaves Lansdown in April.