Laura Trott lays out regulations to allow for delay in the accessibility of the Pension Dashboard until the last quarter of 2026.

In a written ministerial statement, Laura Trott says:

“Pensions dashboards will transform the way in which people plan for retirement. On 2 March 2023, I announced that the Pensions Dashboards Programme would require additional time to deliver the connection of pension providers and schemes, in accordance with the connection deadlines set out in the Pensions Dashboards Regulations 2022 and the Financial Conduct Authority’s corresponding pensions dashboard rules.

More time is needed to deliver this complex build, and for the pensions industry to help facilitate the successful connection of a wide range of different IT systems to the dashboards digital architecture. As part of our reset of the Pensions Dashboard Programme, I am today laying amending Regulations with a new approach to delivery that allows us to work more collaboratively with the pensions industry. Rather than setting out the entire staging timeline in legislation, we will instead set this out in guidance which we will collaborate on with industry this year. This will give the Pensions Dashboards Programme the flexibility it needs to ensure this complex project is completed effectively.

In recognition that the requirement to connect to the digital architecture should remain mandatory, we will include a connection deadline in legislation of 31 October 2026. This is not the Dashboards Available Point – the point at which dashboards will be accessible to the public – which could be earlier than this.

The Government remains as committed as ever to making pensions dashboards a reality and we are ambitious about their delivery. I am confident that this re-appraised approach will enable us to make significant progress on delivering dashboards safely and securely, enabling consumers to take advantage of their benefits to plan for retirement.”

Comment

Although there have already been delays, this acknowledges that there is still a lot to be done to provide a working and useful dashboard for the public. It is better that it is launched when finished than pushed out half-finished and possibly with errors. If the data provided isn’t up to standard from day one, it could lose credibility with the public and would just be a waste of all the time and effort already put in by the industry.

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