Background

In the 2016 Budget, the Government announced its intention to launch a Pensions Dashboard. The aim of the Dashboard is to allow individuals to view all their pension savings in one place, allowing them to consider all their retirement savings when planning. The original expectation was for this to be available from 2019.

The latest position

Earlier this year, it was reported that Esther McVey, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions was considering scrapping the development of the Pensions Dashboard, despite hopes that it would encourage people to be more engaged with their retirement pot.

Subsequently, a petition, of over 100,000 signatures was delivered to the Government, calling on it to continue the development of the Dashboard. It argued that pension pots are at risk of being forgotten if the Dashboard is scrapped. Many individuals have multiple employers throughout their working life and there’s a need for a simpler way for individuals to keep track of their different pension pots.

At the recent Conservative Party conference, Guy Opperman, the Pensions Minister, confirmed the Government still supports the idea of the Pensions Dashboard, however it wasn’t in a position at this time to formally announce a policy, or changes to legislation, to compel pension providers to provide the information required to make the Dashboard a success.

The Financial Conduct Authority (the regulator for the financial services industry) has expressed its desire for the industry to take the lead on providing the Pensions Dashboard. Therefore, we may find that the project continues to progress, but as an industry-led project rather than one driven by the Government.