Amongst numerous recent changes in our political leadership, Guy Opperman has handed the Pensions Ministerial baton on to Alex Burghart.
Like Guy, Alex is a keen Pensions Dashboards advocate and that renewed passion is really welcome. But it’s now more up to industry than Government to get dashboards done, as regulations are finalised.
The Pensions Dashboards Relay
Government passes the baton to industry: The Government originally handed the dashboards baton to industry in March 2016 when the Coalition Chancellor George Osborne said he would ensure the industry designs, funds and launches a dashboard.
Industry hands it back to Government: Industry took up that challenge enthusiastically, with the ABI leading a prototype dashboard project. The prototype was delivered at Easter 2017, with an accompanying report later that year. Crucially, the prototype report said that, for dashboards to be successful, Government would need to introduce legislation compelling pension schemes and providers to make their data available digitally for display on dashboards. Baton passed back to Government!
Government delivers it back to industry: That compulsion request was actually a huge ask, which Guy worked tirelessly to deliver over the last five years. A Government feasibility study in 2018, followed by a consultation in 2019, led to a Pension Schemes Bill in 2020, enacted in 2021, with secondary legislation being consulted on earlier in 2022. Very shortly, the Government will publish the final dashboards regulations (and accompanying standards), delivering on industry’s 2017 request for dashboards compulsion. This finally passes back the baton to us in industry to get dashboards done.
Up to industry to finish the job
Whilst Alex finds his feet, there’s no need for a hiatus on dashboards. Rather, this now gives leading industry providers the opportunity, or duty even, to become the voice of change and drive better outcomes for consumers.
Industry mustn’t wait. Dashboards have cross-party support, for good reason: millions of Britons need more control over their futures, and soon. We should learn from previous initiatives, like Open Banking, where industry grasped the mantel and drove out the change.
Industry’s big providers should be encouraged to join Moneyhub in now testing the standards, and setting the pace for delivering the benefits to the consumers we all serve.
What’s left to do?
So how must industry now step up and deliver dashboards success? There are three crucial areas:
Data: Pension providers must comply by connecting up their data to the Government’s central digital architecture or equivalent alternative testing solutions. This starts with early volunteers this autumn. Then, from Easter 2023, all data providers must connect, in stages.
Consumer experience: At the same time, dashboard providers, such as Moneyhub, must test the most effective ways to display all the connected pensions data to many different consumers of different types, refining the alpha dashboards which are already in place.
Launch: Remember George? Back in 2016 he said industry must also launch dashboards. So whilst we’re busy getting all the back-end data connections and the front-end dashboards working correctly, we must also prepare for a highly successful launch to the general public.
Getting dashboards done
Millions of people in Britain will finally be able to see their pensions together. If they use the Moneyhub dashboard they’ll be able to see their pensions alongside their other finances too. This will really help grow consumers’ control and confidence, much needed in times of financial stress.
Grateful thanks to Guy for getting us this far. Alex has a tough act to follow but a great opportunity to support the pensions industry as it embraces innovative technologies for the ultimate benefit of consumers.