Nobody said it would be easy
Paul EnderbySenior Vice President, Defined Contribution
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Originally featured in HR Magazine.
I was chatting with my cousin recently, and the conversation inevitably turned to pensions. He’s a painter and decorator and, like many people, has collected various DC pots and accrued State Pension along the way.
Through no fault of his own, he can’t remember what he’s got nor knows where to look. He knew the provider of one pot and that some of the other pots were with long-defunct providers, but other than that, he had no idea – a very familiar story.
When I pointed him toward the Pensions Tracing Service, he was genuinely surprised – he had no idea it existed nor that he could get a State Pension forecast.
He thought it was great that someone could tell him where his various pots might be. But he was, understandably, less enamoured with the thought of contacting each provider to find out what they might be worth.
Having visibility over this information in a single place would be a pretty good outcome for my cousin, and many others.
The industry should remember this before devoting precious column inches to criticising the dashboards programme.
The launch of dashboards has been delayed – cue some inevitable negative media coverage.
The Pensions Dashboards Programme (‘PDP’), which has the difficult task of delivering a pretty monumental service, was unable to meet the connection deadlines set in legistlation, so the timeline will need to be revisited. This means the public launch (known as the Dashboards Available Point – or DAP for those who like an acronym!) is very much still TBC – although there’s now an official connection deadline for providers of 31 October 2026.
But nobody said it would be easy. It’s a complex, ambitious project, and I think it’s only right to pause, reflect and ensure that dashboards are delivered successfully.
So, in the spirit of The Defined Contrarian, I’m not going to criticise the delay. Instead, I thought it would be more helpful to share some of the key actions we think schemes and sponsoring employers should be taking in the interim.
Plan your communications. What messages will you give to members about dashboards? How will you answer questions when members can’t see their pension savings? Will you answer members’ questions, or is this a job for your administrator or a call centre?
Consider your vulnerable members. The FCA’s new Consumer Duty rules highlight the importance of vulnerable customers and suggests that people might be vulnerable as a result of:
Ensure your dashboard provisions are inclusive and that your providers have specialist resources available to support vulnerable members.
Remember your AVCs. You could take the opportunity to review your AVCs before 2026 to explore whether they can be delivered through an alternative arrangement. If you decide to keep them in your scheme, you’ll need to ensure the data is complete, up-to-date, and ties in with your DB member data. Most importantly, confirm who will be taking the lead in pulling this data across.
Talk with your providers and administrators to understand how prepared they are for dashboards. Are they sorting data, taking positive actions and helping you understand your membership? Does this work fall in or out of scope and will you be charged for it?
Of course, there are numerous obstacles to overcome, which vary between schemes and sponsoring employers, but let’s remain positive and remind ourselves of who this initiative is trying to help and what a remarkable feat it’ll be once properly executed. The work surrounding pension dashboards isn’t just another wave of challenging admin; it’s a great initiative that will have a meaningful impact on the financial futures of millions. We look forward to seeing further guidance from the DWP later this year.