The Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) has unveiled a call for input on the timeline for the roll-out of the dashboard in the UK.
The proposal has set out a three-phase process which should take around two years to complete.
The first step will relate to the onboarding of master trusts and FCA-regulated pension providers from April 2023, followed by large defined contribution (DC) schemes used for automatic enrolment and other large DC, defined benefit (DB) and public services scheme from 2023.
These make up 99.1% of memberships.
The second wave will open access to medium schemes in 2024, and the third one will include small and micro schemes in approximately 2025.
AJ Bell said that people will need to wait at least until then to have “fully formed” pensions dashboards.
The dashboards were supposed to be ready by 2019, but the deadline was pushed back by the government.
‘Make a snail blush’
Tom Selby, senior analyst at AJ Bell, said: “Pensions dashboards have the potential to make life a whole lot easier for millions of people who build multiple retirement pots over the course of their working lives.
“Being able to see all of your retirement pots in one place online could be a game changer. Most obviously it should save people the hassle of digging through old statements – if they have them at all – when they want to consolidate their old schemes.
“It should also make the scourge of lost pension pots a thing of the past, and over the longer-term could become a tool to boost retirement engagement and understanding. However, before that great pensions oak tree can emerge, the government and the pensions industry needs to get an acorn in the ground.
“There is little doubt the government was wildly optimistic when it suggested dashboards could be up-and-running in 2019. This is a huge project involving vast amounts of data and with people’s life savings at stake, so the most important thing is ensuring that data is safe and the information people eventually see on dashboards is reliable.
“While the pace of the outlined timetable is enough to make a snail blush and will frustrate many – not least government ministers – it is infinitely better than headlines of another IT disaster.
“That said, we hope the government and the FCA will hold the feet of the laggards to the fire to ensure dashboards become a reality as soon as possible.”
‘Ambitious’ timeline
George Currie, consultant at LCP, who until December 2020 was seconded to the PDP, said: “The PDP’s timeline for onboarding pension schemes and providers to the dashboards ecosystem is undoubtedly ambitious and even 2025 looks challenging.
“If it delivers find and view functionality for the vast majority of pension entitlements by 2025, this will be a remarkable achievement.
“However, the scale of preparation required in a relatively short space of time by so many schemes, with vastly different types of entitlement, will be a significant challenge for schemes, who will have to update – and in some cases revolutionise – data management and governance processes to ensure compliance with the timeline.
“Equally, this timeline is dependent on the successful development, testing, and roll out of the digital architecture of the dashboards ecosystem by the PDP over the coming 18 months, a challenge in itself that should not be underestimated.”
