Advisers want Pension Dashboard as priority, Standard Life survey shows

3 February 2020

Nearly three quarters of advisers want the government to prioritise the roll out of pensions dashboards this year, as the House of Lords criticised the Pension Schemes Bill for failing to include enough detail on the proposal.

Research by Standard Life revealed 71% of financial advisers want to see a framework for pensions dashboards put in place in 2020, with the vast majority viewing pensions dashboards as the most important element of the government’s Pensions Bill.

Although not included in the Bill, further enhancements to auto-enrolment was the next biggest priority raised, cited by two fifths (42%) of respondents.

Greater powers over trustees for the Pensions Regulator and the development of collective Defined Contribution schemes were also considered key issues for 25% and 21% of respondents respectively.

Jamie Jenkins, head of global savings policy, Standard Life, said: “Our latest poll of advisers confirms the industry is firmly on board with the roll out of pension dashboards, and wants the government to prioritise the timetable and design principles needed to get the project moving in 2020. The findings are encouraging as the Pension Bill reaches the House of Lords, hopefully putting to bed speculation the legislation would be delayed further.

“It’s unlikely we’ll see a comprehensive dashboard made available this year. However, the impact of the technology reaching development stage should not be understated. Pension dashboards are going to give people greater control over their retirement savings and, ultimately, help the advice and wider savings and investment industry deliver universal pension coverage for all.”

At the same time, the first debate in the House of Lords on the Pension Schemes Bill took place on 28 January, where peers raised concern about the lack of detail in the Bill around pensions dashboards, as well as a lack of progress and the potentially limited scope of the information that would be featured. There were also differences in opinion on whether multiple dashboards were preferable to a single publicly run dashboard.

Currently, multiple pension dashboards are set to be introduced, with the first one being developed by the government’s guidance body, the Money and Pensions Service.

Anthony Rafferty, managing director, Origo, said with technology ready, the focus must now be upon turning the proposition into a reality.

He said: “We are now at the stage where the final areas, such as consumer identity, data security and privacy, are being tackled and resolved. There has always been considerable support and commitment to Dashboards from the industry, evidenced by the considerable work which has been done over the past few years to prove Dashboards could be a reality for UK savers.

Rafferty added: “There are still some key issues that need to be progressed, notably the feasibility for all data to be brought onto an individual’s dashboard from day one. This is down to the differing levels of digital capability amongst providers who may need to automate legacy systems, as well as tackle issues around data accuracy, before they can provide information to dashboards.

“However, these issues will be overcome. The technology is ready and with government committed to finalising the project we believe what is important is to progress the initiative to the point where the first dashboard becomes a reality.”

Professional Paraplanner