The Department for Work and Pensions has announced a revised timeline for pensions dashboard connection.  

The aim of a Pensions Dashboard is to enable individuals to see information about all their pension saving, including state pension, in one online location. This is to enable individuals to keep track of their pension savings, particularly where they have worked for several different employers.  

The connection deadline is set out in legislation and the first such deadline was originally scheduled for 31 August 2023 for large pension providers, those with 1,000 or more active and deferred members, master trust and most personal pension providers. 

The DWP’s written ministerial statement acknowledges the scale of the project and the complexity of the systems required to enable the dashboard architecture to operate as designed. The DWP have said that the overall framework remains fit for purpose but that regulations amending the timelines required for providers to connect to the dashboard will be laid at the earliest possible opportunity. 

In the meantime, trustees and administrators should continue with any data readiness activity that they have already commenced. The Pensions Administration Standards Association has recently published guidance on data readiness for schemes preparing for or targeting buy-in and buy-out. The content is also useful and relevant to all schemes and PASA recommends that scheme trustees adopt an overall data strategy; such a strategy will be useful for projects such as dashboard readiness. 

“Delivering the central digital architecture for pensions dashboards is a complex undertaking. DWP and the Money and Pensions Service remain committed to dashboards. Significant progress has already been made. However, we need to do more work to ensure the connection journey is stable and secure for industry, and that it’s achievable ahead of mandatory connection."