Pensions Minister, Emma Reynolds, has announced that the Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) will be prioritising work on the launch of the MoneyHelper dashboard service, before turning to the work of connecting commercial dashboard services.

In a written ministerial statement, Reynolds emphasised that the government remains committed to delivering pensions dashboards, to help people find lost pots and promote greater engagement – empowering individuals to plan their future more confidently.

She stated: "The government wants to shape the pensions system to serve the interests of savers and future pensioners, ensuring decent, secure retirement incomes for all.

"As part of achieving that goal, we want to make it easier for people to understand their pensions information so they can better prepare for financial security in later life.

"As people often move around the labour market throughout their working lives, this can make it difficult for individuals to keep track of their pensions savings. To help solve this problem, the government is committed to the delivery of pensions dashboards.

"Facilitating the launch of pensions dashboards is a challenging and complex undertaking, but the government is firmly committed to their successful delivery and to unlocking the potential benefits they will offer to future pensioners."

And whilst Reynolds clarified that it is still too early to confirm a launch date for public use, she confirmed that the government is taking steps to help the public realise the benefits of using a pensions dashboard at the "earliest opportunity".

In line with this, Reynolds announced that she has directed the PDP to focus its efforts on the connection and launch of the MoneyHelper dashboard service (provided by the Money and Pensions Service (Maps)), before turning to the work of connecting commercial dashboard services.

However, she emphasised that the government remains committed to the idea of multiple commercial pensions dashboards services, arguing that prioritising the launch of the government-backed dashboard will provide an opportunity to obtain better insights into customer behaviour, and ensure greater confidence in operational delivery, security, and consumer protection before facilitating the connection of commercial dashboards.

She stated: "The government supports the principle of enabling multiple commercial pensions dashboard services, which will provide savers with greater choice to access their pensions information from organisations they are familiar with, promoting greater engagement with pensions.

"However, in the interests of ensuring consumers have the best experience on dashboards, it is prudent to allow a period while only the MoneyHelper dashboard is operational."

Reynolds also confirmed that timings for providers and schemes are not expected to change, stating: "We are committed to the existing published timetable for the connection of pension schemes and providers to the pensions dashboards ecosystem, which is expected to begin in April 2025, as well as the overall connection deadline of 31 October 2026.

"It is therefore essential that the pensions industry continues to prepare for connection, having regard to the timetable set out in DWP’s guidance."

Adding to this, Maps chief executive, Oliver Morley, said: “Pensions dashboards will transform how people view their retirement savings, and will help pension providers and schemes’ engagement with better informed customers and members.

"Dashboards are a truly collaborative effort between government, industry and regulators. We are working hard together to create a service that puts savers in control of their pensions.”

Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) chief policy counsel, Nigel Peaple, highlighted the decision to first connect the government-run Money Helper dashboard before extending the initiative to private sector pensions dashboards as a "sensible way of derisking the project for government, schemes and savers".

"Pensions dashboards have the potential to radically increase people’s understanding of how much income they can expect to receive from the state pension and their workplace pensions," he continued.

“It’s also positive that today’s statement notes the new approach will ensure more opportunities for the PDP to undertake consumer testing and that it will engage with potential commercial dashboard providers very soon.”

Indeed, Reynolds confirmed that the PDP, which is part of Maps, has now begun testing the connection journey with a small number of external organisations which will help facilitate wider industry connections.

She also noted that PDP has published an updated draft Code of Connection, technical standards, and data standards to support the pensions industry to prepare for connection, having recently concluded a formal reset process which generated a revised delivery plan.

As a result of the PDP’s progress, the Infrastructure and Projects Authority has also increased its confidence in the programme’s ability to deliver against their revised plan, according to Reynolds.

Broader momentum around pensions dashboards has also been building back up, as the PDP also recently confirmed that Gov.UK One Login will be the identity service provider for anyone using the dashboards service.

In addition to this, The Pensions Regulator recently confirmed that it has begun contacting pension schemes to urge them to improve their data quality in the run up to pensions dashboards’ launch, warning that it “will challenge those that are not able to demonstrate how they meet [its] expectations, and regulatory action may be taken if necessary”.

Industry preparations have also been growing, with four new organisations joining the Dashboard Operators Coalition (DOC), bringing the total number of members to 15.

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