Up to 15,000 Standard Life customers could be at risk of identity fraud after it emerged that a disk sent from the Inland Revenue to the company’s headquarters had gone missing.

The disk contained names, national insurance numbers, dates of birth and pension details but failed to arrive at Standard Life’s headquarters in Edinburgh. Both organisations have warned Standard Life pension policyholders to be vigilant.

Such information is regularly sent by the Inland Revenue to pensions providers to ensure tax and tax relief are applied correctly.

Last month an earlier CD with similar information was also lost when a courier transporting the disk mislaid the package.