New mandatory date by which pensions providers must be connected to the pension dashboard set

Anthony Rafferty, CEO, Origo, comments on the revised pension dashboard schedule announced by the DWP

Background to the announcement:

A reset of the schedule for the pensions dashboards was announced in March by Pension Minister Laura Trott*, saying more time was needed to facilitate the successful connection of the wide range of different IT systems in the industry, to the dashboards’ digital architecture.

Today (8 June 2023) the DWP has issued a ministerial statement** which sets a new mandatory date by which pensions providers must be connected to the pension dashboard as 31 October 2026.

The Minister pointed out that “This is not the Dashboards Available Point – the point at which dashboards will be accessible to the public – which could be earlier than this.”

This strongly suggests providers will be expected to connect to the dashboard ahead of that date. The Minister said: “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.”

Anthony Rafferty, CEO, Origo, comments:

“While the new mandatory date by which pensions providers must be connected to the pension dashboard has been moved back to 31 October 2026, it is clear that the DWP requires pension providers to remain dashboard focused, and to prepare and connect their services to the dashboard potentially well ahead of compulsion.

“The Statement from the DWP suggests it will be expecting a proportion of the industry to connect to the dashboard potentially well ahead of the cut-off point, to enable the Dashboards Available Point – the point at which dashboards will be accessible to the public – to go live earlier than the 2026 deadline.

“Guidelines for these new staging dates for connection to the central digital architecture will be agreed with the industry later in the year.

“Meanwhile, providers should be ensuring their data preparation is complete and that their dashboard connection solution is in place.

“Earlier connection will ensure not only that individual providers are ready for their expected live date but also is essential for testing of the full dashboard ecosystem.

“With the industry predicted to receive millions of requests for pensions data when dashboards are fully live, it is important providers are connected to the dashboard via a robust, comprehensive and scalable service. It must also handle all their pension dashboard processing requirements securely and compliantly and accommodate any standards revisions that come from PDP.

“What the industry needs to avoid, and the larger providers in particular, is capacity crunch in the run up to both the Dashboards Available Point and the mandatory deadline.

“The Pension Dashboard is a crucial project for individual pension savers and financial wellbeing within the UK. It is essential it is done right and will be a prize worth the wait.”

* https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2023-03-02/hcws594/

** https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2023-06-08/hcws836

Notes:

[1] Origo was tasked by the Pensions Dashboards Programme/MaPS with building the central digital architecture for the UK pensions dashboards. The Fintech has set up a separate tech team to use its many years’ experience of working on the pensions dashboard, to design and develop the standalone Origo Dashboard Connector to give providers a straightforward and cost-effective way to connect to that architecture. Origo is partnered with CapCo to bring together Origo’s dashboard experience and the benefits of Capco’s audit and readiness solutions and its expertise in project management.

Recent big name signings to the Origo Dashboard Connector have been Hargreaves Lansdown and LV=.