The “vast majority” of pension schemes are confident in their ability to securely integrate with the pensions dashboards, according to a survey of Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA) members.

The majority (90 per cent) of schemes said they were either ‘very confident’ or ‘moderately confident’ in their ability to connect, with nine in 10 confident they would meet regulatory compliance deadlines.

Despite confidence in their readiness, the survey uncovered some aspects where schemes require further preparation, with data quality highlighted as the area of dashboard readiness where schemes had the most concerns (49 per cent).

This includes formatting and standardisation of data (44 per cent), consolidating data from multiple sources (43 per cent), ensuring real-time data updates (37 per cent) and complying with data protection regulations (21 per cent).

In addition to this, the PLSA found that while sixty per cent of respondents had determined which data items to use in matching, fewer planned how to deal with partial matches (33 per cent) or calculate expected retirement incomes (30 per cent).

The PLSA has previously found challenges associated with accurate matching, particularly where employers or members do not regularly update member data. For example, incorrect key identifiers, such as surname, can hinder the matching process.

In addition to this, 40 per cent of schemes raised concerns about appropriately responding to members’ enquiries after using dashboards.

PLSA chief policy counsel, Nigel Peaple, said: “We have long been a strong supporter of pensions dashboards and believe it is key to helping improve saver engagement with their pensions and helping them plan their retirement income.

“Our survey shows that schemes are making good progress in preparing their data for connection, though many challenges remain. We, therefore, encourage the government to give the industry as much notice as possible ahead of the dashboard available point.

"This will help them resolve any remaining data issues with their administrators and integrated service providers, and to train staff effectively in handling incoming saver queries.”

The survey was undertaken ahead of a recent dashboards update from Pensions Minister, Emma Reynolds,which confirmed that the Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) would be prioritising work on launching the MoneyHelper dashboard service , before connecting commercial dashboard services.

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