The first pension provider has finalised connection to the pensions dashboards ecosystem, in line with the Department for Work and Pensions' (DWP) staged timetable in guidance, the Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) has confirmed.

The news was hailed as an "important milestone" for the programme, and marks the beginning of connection for the approximately 3,000 providers and schemes in scope of the dashboards legislation.

Indeed, the PDP said that the first provider to connect marks a "crucial step" towards making dashboards a reality, and highlighted it as a demonstration of the effectiveness of the technical solution developed.

It was also highlighted as evidence of the collaboration between the programme and its industry volunteer participants to create and refine the processes and supporting documentation that enable schemes to safely and securely connect on behalf of their members.

This builds on recent momentum surrounding dashboards, as the PDP confirmed that three voluntary participants had completed their connection journeys in March, later revealing to Pensions Age that a further five have been through integration testing, which is thought to be the most time-consuming part of the process.

“The connection of the first pension provider is a testament to the hard work and dedication across industry, government and the regulators. It’s important that providers and schemes keep going with their preparations ahead of connection in line with guidance," Money and Pensions Service CEO, Oliver Morley, said.

“Alongside connection, we are expecting to start user testing with our MoneyHelper pensions dashboard in the summer. This will bring us closer to the public being able to start using dashboards to better plan for their retirement.”

Legal & General has since revealed on social media that it is the first company in question, highlighting its connection to the dashboards ecosystem as a "hugely important milestone", not just for the business itself, but for the wider industry too.

Commenting on the news on LinkedIn, Legal & General head of DC clients, Jayesh Patel, said: "We are officially the first company to ever connect a scheme to the dashboards ecosystem, connecting millions of members.

"This is a huge step for the industry in helping to provide a holistic view of members' pension savings all in one place. Dashboards will be transformative in driving improved member outcomes and I'm looking forward to continuing to work with our clients and the programme to onboard more of our schemes. A huge congratulations to everyone involved."

The PDP also confirmed that more providers and schemes are registered and are currently in the pipeline for connection in April 2025, in line with guidance issued by DWP.

To support this, the PDP is working with all its volunteer participants to complete their connection journeys as soon as possible.

However, the PDP acknowledged that this is a complex process involving different types of organisations, admitting that, as previously expected, a number of volunteer participants will not have completed their journeys by the end of April.

Both the Financial Conduct Authority and The Pensions Regulator have previously provided reassurance they will take a pragmatic approach, however, confirming that will be no regulatory intervention at the current time for pension providers and schemes who are unable to meet their ‘connect by’ dates in guidance solely due to their dependence on a volunteer participant who has yet to connect.

Speaking to Pensions Age, PDP principal, Chris Curry, also offered further reassurance to the industry, explaining that "the key thing is that you have to have due regard to the guidance, so as long as you’ve been doing everything you can do – making good records, having good audit accounts, etc – then that’s absolutely fine".

---