Smaller pension schemes could face disproportionate operational pressure from limited resources and historic data gaps as they prepare for the public launch of the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard (MHPD), according to Lumera.

The insurtech firm urged smaller schemes to start preparing for beyond connection, as these schemes often lack the dedicated project teams, specialist data functions and administration capacity of their larger peers.

The legal deadline for schemes to connect to the pensions dashboards ecosystem is 31 October 2026, while the MHPD is currently expected to become publicly available in the 2027/28 financial year.

The Pensions Regulator found in its readiness survey 2024/24 that 65 per cent of smaller schemes had completed all five key preparations around 11 months ahead their connection date, compared with 79 per cent of the larger schemes.

Lumera said low confidence in pension data could make it especially hard for smaller defined benefit (DB) schemes to support dashboards post-connection, as they may need new systems to produce dashboard-ready values, while poor matching criteria and manual calculations risk creating bottlenecks, delays and additional workloads.

Furthermore, once dashboards are more widely used, support activities will need to increase.

Lumera recommended that smaller schemes should be end-to-end testing their dashboard processes, validating member data and matching criteria, and ensuring pension values can be provided within statutory timescales. Delaying this work risks operational backlogs and poorer member experience.

Lumera commercial director, data and dashboards, Maurice Titley, described the situation smaller schemes face as a “double challenge” – first getting connected and then managing the operational demands when pensions dashboards are used by the public.

He explained that the focus now needs to shift to addressing data weaknesses ahead of public availability.

“The schemes that adapt most successfully to the post-dashboards world will not necessarily be those with the ‘best and biggest’ resources, but those that have taken the time to understand their data, test their processes and put proportionate controls in place before their members begin using the service,” he said.

"Although dashboards introduce new obligations, tackling data issues now will help schemes avoid operational bottlenecks when the MHPD goes live, and create stronger foundations for longer-term priorities, including consolidation, buyout and other strategic options."

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