Pensions dashboards to be delayed until 2023
29 October 2020
It has been confirmed that those individuals who save for their retirement in the UK will now need to wait until at least 2023 before pensions dashboards are implemented. A pension dashboard will be an online service which will allow savers to see all of their pensions consolidated in one singular place.
Back in 2016, the Chancellor at the time, George Osborne, set a deadline of 2019 for launching the service, so the new date means a delay of four years from when the Government first intended. The dashboards will allow individuals to see all of their retirement funds, including state pension, workplace pension and personal pension in one secure online space.
The Pensions Dashboards Programme, which was established in 2019 to create the digital architecture and governance framework required for the dashboards, highlighted in its most recent report that there would not be sufficient pensions data available to populate the dashboards prior to 2023.
At present, there are 52 million people in the UK that will need to be connected up to 130 million pensions, that are supplied by over 400,000 private, public and state schemes.
Principle of the Pensions Dashboards Programme, Chris Curry, said:
“While dashboards are a simple concept, the delivery of dashboards will be complex.
This is a really big project. There is a lot that needs to happen. There is a lot of work to move the industry forward, but also a lot of work on the government and regulatory side as well to make sure everything is aligned and delivered in the safest possible way for the consumer.”
A timeline has been provided, devised by the Pensions Dashboard Programme, which indicates that pension providers and schemes will be encouraged to link up customer and member data to dashboards from 2023 onwards.
Mr. Curry advised that the dashboards will not launch with all pensions pots and benefits in the system, as testing would first need to take place in order to assess how loaded the dashboards need to be for consumers to be satisfied with them. He said:
“Most people would find it useful to find at least three-quarters of their pensions in the system.”
It is believed that the preliminary dashboards will display a simple range of information, not dissimilar to that included in annual benefit statements, information requests from pension providers, or guidance relating to locating old pension pots. It is then intended that the dashboards will develop and evolve over time.
The Minister for Pensions and Financial Inclusion, Guy Opperman, commented:
“Pensions dashboards will revolutionise retirement saving which is why it’s vital we get them right,”
I’m encouraged by the progress on the project to date, the sensible timetable for development incorporating testing, rigour and refinement, and the continued collaboration driving this forward.”
Savers can trace old pension pots by accessing the Pension Tracing Service here.
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