It has been 10 years since the government first publicly committed to creating a “Pensions Dashboard” that would allow individuals to see all their pension savings, including state pensions, in one secure, online place. In their latest article, Tim Grainger, Retirement Specialist at Quilter shares a timeline and an idea of what to expect in the coming months.
With the legislation laid in the Pension Schemes Act 2021 to make the dashboard a reality, we are now in the consumer testing phases of the project, and with the end nearly in sight, we could finally see the launch of the Pensions Dashboard to the general public, allowing an estimated 3.3 million lost pension pots to be reconnected to their owners, with an estimated value of £31 billion pounds.
When will the Pensions Dashboard go live to the public
A staged connection timetable started in April 2025, with the largest schemes connecting to the dashboard infrastructure first, with medium and smaller in scope schemes having to be connected by 31 October 2026.
The dashboard is currently undergoing extensive testing, with a public launch – when people will be able to use it expected in late 2026 or early 2027.
The Minister for Pensions has committed to giving at least 6 months’ notice before the date of public launch.
The Money Helper Dashboard (the government‑backed version) will be the first dashboard available to the public with commercial dashboards launching after.
What pensions will be shown on the dashboard
The dashboard will include:
- State Pension
- Defined Benefit (DB) pensions (including cash balance schemes)
- Defined Contribution (DC) pensions
- Public service pension schemes
- Personal and stakeholder pensions
Only pensions that have never been crystallised will be shown on the dashboard. Pensions already in payment, fully annuitised, or where funds have entered drawdown, including partial crystallisations, will not be shown on dashboards.
Schemes with less than 100 members are also excluded from the dashboard regulations, although they can connect voluntarily.
This is in line with the original government policy intent to improve engagement, support retirement planning, and reunite individuals with lost or forgotten pensions.
What Information will be shown on the dashboard
Dashboards will present standardised administrative and value data, including:
- Scheme and provider name
- Pension type
- Membership and employment dates (where relevant)
- Current accrued value (or accrued entitlement for DB schemes)
- Estimated retirement income
- State Pension forecast and age
Dashboards are view only tools. They will not support transactions, product switches, or consolidation activity.
Customer delegating access to their pension’s dashboard data
In the future, pensions dashboards may offer ‘delegated access’ where users would be able to grant access to their pensions information to a financial adviser or Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) guidance services.
Although legislation provides for delegated access, this functionality is currently out of scope for the first iteration of dashboards
How adviser access may work in future releases of the dashboard
Users will be able to grant access to their dashboard data to regulated financial advisers, Money Helper guidance specialists, and other approved professionals.
Financial advisers must hold specific permissions to advise on pensions and investments in order to access this service.
The advisers will be listed on a governance register and must go through a consent and authorisation process. Users can revoke access at any time.
Future developments of the dashboard
The government has been clear that enabling individuals to view their untouched pensions, including the State Pension, is only the first step in the Pensions Dashboard journey.
Following the successful launch of the Money and Pensions Service dashboard, work will continue to enable the introduction of private dashboards.
These will support greater awareness and understanding of pensions, helping to drive increased engagement among savers.
To learn more about how Quilter support retirement, visit here: Pensions | Quilter
Main image: selina-1Qc2qcK5kGo-unsplash
