The Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) has announced that the long-awaited pensions dashboard will be further delayed until 2023 – four years after its original target of 2019 – causing mixed reactions within the industry.
The dashboard will allow individuals to access and manage all their private pension arrangements along with their State Pension in one place, enabling them to see their projected retirement income at their current saving levels, and a predicted amount if their contributions were increased.
The initial phase of the project, including finalising the architecture of the actual dashboard, securing a supplier to complete this and agreeing a set of data standards, is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Once data standards are confirmed, pension schemes and providers will need to ensure all data adheres to these specifications and is ready for inclusion in the dashboard by 2023.
Stuart Price, Partner and Actuary at Quantum Advisory, said: “To hear of yet another delay in this pivotal project for the pensions industry is disappointing, particularly such a lengthy delay, however, if this is what is needed to ensure we achieve the desired outcome then it is necessary.
“So many people are unsure about how much they should be saving and at what age they could realistically retire. They see contributions come out of their wages each month but have no idea of the income they will be receiving in retirement. The fact that workers in the UK have six jobs on average over their lifetime, each with a separate pension scheme, exacerbates this confusion. The dashboard will provide a platform to answers all these concerns and reassure people that their pension contributions are being looked after and, in fact, growing. It will also hopefully make people actively think more about their pensions and encourage them to save more.
“The continuous setbacks and delays are discouraging, but it is imperative that the pensions dashboard does come to fruition, or we risk an entire generation oblivious to pensions and in for a nasty surprise when they retire or they realise that they cannot afford to retire when they want to.”
20 November 2020