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Pensions dashboard

Published Wednesday, September 26, 2018

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 designs, funds and launches a pensions dashboard by 2019:

1.114 As people work longer and change jobs more often, pension savings can become confusing. The average person will move employers 11 times over their working life, meaning they could end up with 11 or more private pensions by the time they retire. Research shows that over a third of people approaching retirement find it difficult to keep track of their pension pots. To help the next generation to clearly view their pensions avings, the government will ensure the industry designs, funds and launches a pensions dashboard by 2019. This will mean an individual can view all their retirement savings in one place.

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

The Department for Work and Pensions is conducting a feasibility study to explore in more detail issues such as:

- What will be of most use in helping individuals plan effectively for their retirement;

- The viability of different delivery models;

- Determining a suitable framework of governance;

- Ensuring the consumer interests are safeguarded and personal information protected;

- Regulation, standards, data security and identity verification;

- Establishing how to ensure the widest possible contribution of data from pension providers, while taking account of the potential impact on industry;

- Determining the indicative costs of potential models and how they might be funded sustainably; 

- Setting out a pathway for delivery with provisional milestones and recommendations aound communications and publicity (HL Deb 24 October 2017 c878)

In February 2018, Pensions Minister Guy Opperman said he hoped to report by the summer rececess but there were complex issues to resolve, such as:

- The retention of a huge amount of different types of data and who had access to or controlled it;

- Whether this should be done by the Government or by the new single financial guidance body being set up under the Financial Guidance and Claims Act 2018.

On 4 September 2018, the Government said:

An industry-led dashboard, facilitated by government, will harness the best of industry innovation. We will continue to engage with industry on this model and Government will protect pension savers and personal information by legislation where necessary. This will build on the Government's 'check your State Pension' online service for the State Pension. We will report shortly on the findings from the Feasibility Study. (HCWS933, 4 September 2018).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Commons Briefing papers CBP-8407

Author: Djuna Thurley

Topic: Pensions

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