MoneyHelper has outlined plans for its Citizen User Testing exercise, which is set to begin in the new year.

Money and Pensions Service (Maps) head of money and pensions policy, Jackie Spencer, announced the 'unofficial launch' of the testing programme at a Maps Town Hall event, led by the Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP).

"This is a framework for discussion for the industry, and to show how we want to move forward for next year when we are connected into the central digital architecture," she stated.

"This is the start of the conversation on this testing framework, and we will continue evolving this into the beginning of 2025, to make sure that we can get the most out of this citizen testing phase."

The testing will be split into two phases, the first of which will use moderated testing, with moderators watching users going through the MoneyHelper dashboard process, while the second phase will use unmoderated testing across a much larger sample group.

The first phase, according to Maps senior pensions policy and proposition lead, Adam Gifford, is expected to cover around 10-15 participants a week, with around 400 pension schemes expected to be connected to the dashboards ahead of this stage, covering an estimated 50-55m pensions.

Lasting around two to three months, the first phase will focus on a few core pension types, including the state pension, workplace defined contribution (DC) pensions, and private sector defined benefit (DB).

Gifford also confirmed that the plan will be looking to test with a mix of demographics, including savers who are registered and unregistered with GOV.UK One Login.

MoneyHelper will be working to recruit members from workplace pension staff schemes, as well as existing panels set up by industry organisations.

Phase two, meanwhile, will cover a larger sample of savers, as Gifford explained that while it will start off slower, with around 200 users in the first months of testing, this will scale up to around 11,000 users a month.

Expected to last around six to 10 months, recruitment in this phase will also look different, as Gifford explained that, at this stage, Maps will be looking to form a formal research panel.

It will also expand the scope of the testing in this second phase, to consider issues such onward guidance journeys and downloading data.

However, Gifford confirmed that there are a number of things that must be finished before this testing can get underway.

In particular, he stressed that real user data is needed, with real pension schemes required to connect before this testing can get underway.

He also said that the MoneyHelper dashboard itself needed to be finalised, and connected to the dashboard operator ecosystem, which hasn’t yet been completed, as well as a number of technical checks, to ensure that the system is safe and secure for users.

The regulators also confirmed that as this testing phase will be using real member data, regulatory requirements will apply to schemes that are connected to the dashboard during this period.

However, FCA pensions policy technical specialist, Caroline Donellan, confirmed that that the regulator will take into account the very small volume of users coming through during this period when evaluating the impact of any breaches and deciding upon any interventions.

Speaking to Pensions Age, Spencer acknowledged that potential delays to the connection process for volunteer participants (VPs) could impact when the MoneyHelper testing begins, although she stressed that only a small number of schemes need to be connected for the testing to begin.

"We are committed to ensuring the MoneyHelper pensions dashboard is thoroughly tested with a wide variety of users and it is essential, not just for getting the MoneyHelper pensions dashboard right, but also for commercial dashboards later down the line," she stated.

As we are reliant on schemes being connected in order to carry out citizen facing testing, delays to VP connection could impact when we can start testing and the pace at which we can progress our testing once it begins.

"However, during the first phase of testing we are planning to test with one scheme per week. Therefore, we only need a relatively small number of schemes (not VPs) to be connected and that are willing to support with testing during that period for us to be able to proceed without much delay."

When asked by Pensions Age about the potential impact of this testing on the broader dashboards timeline, Maps CEO, Oliver Morley, reassured the industry that work on commercial dashboards is still ongoing, confirming that any necessary pre-discovery work required for commercial dashboards is set to begin in the first quarter of 2025.

"One of the key benefits of prioritising the MoneyHelper pensions dashboard is that we’ll obtain better insights into consumer behaviour and ensure a greater confidence in a range of areas before facilitating the connection of commercial dashboards," he stated.

"With that in mind, we are committed to regularly sharing insights with the industry which could provide useful learnings to those planning to develop their own dashboards. This includes insights gained from our user testing.

"Maps and PDP will also be working closely across the pensions landscape to ensure that any necessary pre-discovery work required for commercial dashboards begins in the first quarter of 2025."

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