The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has said that it is “more important than ever” for trustees and scheme managers to work collaboratively to progress pensions dashboards “quickly and efficiently”.

In a blog post, TPR director of regulatory policy, analysis and advice, Louise Davey, said that “the key to success is preparation”, arguing that a phased and well-planned approach to connection should be maintained so savers can reap the benefits as soon as possible.

The comments follow the Pensions Minister, Laura Trott's, recent update on the pensions dahsboards reset, which confirmed a new connection deadline of 31 October 2026, although Trott suggested that the Dashboards Available Point "could be earlier" than this.

Whilst Davey acknowledged that there is still “significant work” involved in complying with pensions dashboards, she argued that “now that we have a roadmap for delivery, it’s more important than ever that trustees and scheme managers start working collaboratively to progress dashboards quickly and efficiently”.

"You can’t hurry getting data dashboards-ready," she stated. "But now is the time for action. Just like prepping for that interview or presentation, trustees, scheme managers and administrators that make time to prepare will reap rewards later."

Indeed, Davey acknowledged that industry capacity is a "big concern", with a lot of legislative change on the horizon with data being a common, fundamental element across a scheme’s duties.

Given this, she argued that it is "crucial" to plan ahead with third parties and ensure they can comply with their dashboards duties.

She stated: “Pensions dashboards can transform the pensions industry by connecting savers with these pots, allowing people to see all their future pensions entitlements in one online place.

“But dashboards will only be as useful to savers as the data they rely on. The success of dashboards depends on good data — having the data isn’t enough, it needs to be correct.

“So this is our challenge to trustees, scheme managers and those supporting them in their preparation — to get data accuracy to a point where they’re confident that it can be used in the dashboards environment."

Davey admitted that " getting quality data in the correct format for dashboards won’t always be easy", given the fact that administration has historically lacked focus and funding, despite being "fundamental" in delivering good saver outcomes.

Indeed, according to Davey, the regulator’s pensions dashboards readiness tracker has shown that many schemes’ data quality isn’t where it should be, as only 42 per cent of respondents held all their members’ personal and contact data digitally.

The biggest issues with data accuracy were with deferred members, historical data gaps or members not updating details, and problems with data quality from employers.

Given this, Davey stressed the need for trustees and scheme managers to understand the data that’s required to match savers to their pensions, and the data that will be sent for savers to view, before auditing whether that data is in a dashboards-ready format.

“All data needs to be accessible, accurate, and available digitally — a scanned document or PDF isn’t enough,” she added, emphasising that “any gaps should be filled as much as possible”.

In addition to matching, Davey pointed out that value data is a “fundamental part” of the user experience, arguing that this should also be top of schemes’ to-do lists.

“You will only have a limited time to provide this data — in many cases you will need to return it instantly, and at most you will have three days to calculate a defined contribution (DC) value and return it, or 10 days for a defined benefit (DB) benefit,” she explained.

“We urge you to work with administrators to assess how much value data you can frontload. Can they revalue in bulk or automate the calculation benefits, to reduce the number of cases you need to calculate within the limited time window?”

More broadly, Davies argued that the process of preparing for pensions dashboards "shines a light on data quality", suggesting that improving this data will have significant benefits beyond dashboards, and with preparation and collaboration will lead to a "step change" in pension scheme administration.

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