Commenting on the DWP’s pension dashboards update today (8 June 2023), Karl Lidgley, Client Manager, Third Party Administration, Hymans Robertson, said:

“We welcome the prospect of clarity around the implementation of the dashboard programme. Pension dashboards will help re-unite members with lost pots and enable smoother retirement planning for millions of members. These benefits can only be realised when there is comprehensive and reliable coverage of member data in dashboards.

“It’s imperative that third party administrators with multiple schemes to onboard can schedule the work effectively to connect schemes, which the original staging dates compelled schemes and their administrators to do. If the updated approach has no enforcement until the end point, which is not yet clear, it risks schemes choosing to defer work. This would cause a concertina effect as the deadline approaches and a single point of failure, which is in nobody’s interests.

“Until all this is resolved, dashboards will not deliver the improvement in member outcomes that are urgently needed for todays’ retirees, despite all the efforts been made across the industry.”