Pensions dashboards

Djuna Thurley

Pensions dashboards

Published Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Looks at the debate on the pensions dashboard which is being developed to enable people to view all their lifetime pension savings (including their state pension) in one place

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A pensions dashboard is a digital interface that enables people to see all their lifetime pension savings in one place. Evidence from the Netherlands is that this can encourage consumer engagement with pensions by making them more tangible and visible. The Financial Conduct Authority has highlighted the need for such a tool in the UK as people increasingly have multiple pots and other sources of retirement income. It said the data should ideally be retrieved directly from providers, be updated in real time and contain projections of pension income based on different scenarios. (FCA, FAMR Final Report, March 2016, p47).

In Budget 2016, the Government said it would ensure the industry designed, funded and launched a pensions dashboard by 2019.

A Pensions Dashboard Prototype Project, managed by the ABI on behalf of HM Treasury, showed that it was possible to build the plumbing to connect multiple pension schemes to dashboards so that people can see their pension savings in one place. (Pensions Dashboard Project, Reconnecting people with their pensions, October 2017).

DWP published the findings of its feasibility study on 3 December 2018 and launched a consultation, which ran until 28 January 2019. Key decisions were that:

Industry would design and develop its own dashboards. The Single Financial Guidance Body (SFGB) would convene a delivery group to help ensure that this happened safely and securely.
Multiple dashboards would improve consumer choice but should exist alongside a non-commercial dashboard hosted by the SFGB offering an impartial service to those who prefer it, or who may not be targeted by the market.
The Government would legislate to require pension schemes to provide individuals data (with their consent) via pensions dashboards. This would follow the creation of “a robust delivery model with the appropriate governance.”
There might be merit in exempting some schemes from compulsory participation, such as Small Self-Administered Schemes (SSAS) and Executive Pension Plans (EPP).
The Government would work with the industry delivery group to integrate the State Pension into pensions dashboards.

In terms of the timeline, the Government’s expectation is that industry should start to supply data to the dashboard on a voluntary basis from 2019 and that an industry-led dashboard facilitated by the SFGB, will be introduced from 2019. It expects that the majority of schemes will be on-boarded within three to four years, with the final timeline agreed by industry through the delivery group. (Cm 9719, December 2018, p9).

In the Autumn Budget 2018, the Government committed funding for 2019/20 to “help fulfil its role in facilitating industry to make dashboards a reality” (Table 2.1, line 18). It said that in the longer term, the costs should be met by the pensions industry, possibly through existing industry levies (Feasibility study, December 2018, p 10)

Commons Briefing papers CBP-8407

Author: Djuna Thurley

Topic: Pensions