The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) has published its first full report on the Pensions Dashboards Programme, including the progress made so far and what needs to be done before it’s launched.
In addition to the progress report, which sets out proposed ways for user testing, sourcing an ID verification service, agreeing data standards and the ways it will align with regulation and legislation, two papers have been published. These detail the scope of the dashboards and the data elements required from pension providers.
Chris Curry, principal of the Pensions Dashboards Programme at MaPS, said these reports are for information only and no action is to be taken now, the team will engage with stakeholders when “the time is right”.
Regarding timelines, Curry said MaPS plan to lay out a more detailed timeline by the end of the year, but a staged onboarding process should be expected to allow data providers to get ready and for all the necessary user testing to be carried out.
MaPS added that the dashboards will be ready to launch to the public, when the following requirements have been met:
• The security of the ecosystem is fully assured;
• The user experience has been thoroughly tested;
• User behaviours have been understood and any adverse impacts or unintended consequences mitigated;
• The service has coverage of enough pension memberships to meet users’ needs and be useful to a significant majority of people.
Curry added: “The vision of the Pensions Dashboards Programme could not be simpler - to enable individuals to access all their pensions information online, securely and all in one place, thereby supporting better planning for retirement and growing financial wellbeing.
“However, the delivery challenges underlying this vision are significant – even more so in the current circumstances. Delivering this valuable service for society will depend upon close collaboration across government, regulators and the pensions industry.”
Going forward, MaPS will publish progress reports every six months.