In October, the Minister for Pensions confirmed that the government is committed to meeting the existing published timetable for pension schemes and providers to connect to the dashboards ecosystem, which is expected to begin in April 2025, as well as the overall connection deadline of 31 October 2026. So, with less than six months until many schemes and providers are expected to connect, now is a good time to take stock of some recent dashboard developments and resources.

In early December, the Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) published its latest progress update report. The report confirmed that of the group of over 20 ‘volunteer participants’ that have been preparing to connect as part of the PDP's dashboards delivery plan, eight have already started the connection process, and the first two volunteer participants have completed integration testing. The report also highlighted the PDP's most recent updates to the dashboards standards, including new draft data standards, technical standards and reporting standards as well as changes to the draft code of connection. The update also confirmed that the MoneyHelper pensions dashboard has passed its alpha phase service standards assessment, which means that the MoneyHelper dashboard can now begin limited user testing.

The PDP report also explained that, as work continues towards meeting connection timetable, providers and schemes need to keep up to date with the latest legal and regulatory requirements. To that end, the PDP highlighted the importance of utilising existing resources to get dashboard ready, such as the Pensions Administration Standards Association's (PASA) data matching guidance. PASA has also recently provided further guidance with the publication of its data scoring guidance. The new guidance provides practical suggestions for scoring member data, which is intended to produce improved and consistent data scoring across the industry.

Finally, in October, and in response to calls for further resources to help get connection ready, PASA launched its Dashboards Toolkit, which provides practical tips and guidance. The Toolkit is intended to provide "good practice" resources with the goals of ensuring a high-quality user experience, promotion of consistency in data presentation and protection of the day-to-day administration of services after dashboards are made available to the public. The Toolkit is intended to be an industry resource that will be regularly updated. The first release focuses on the connection and management of Additional Voluntary Contribution (AVC) data, and includes:

If you would like to discuss anything raised in this blog in more detail, please get in touch with a member of the pensions team or your usual Brodies contact.

Contributor

Juliet Bayne

Partner