The government and pensions authorities have been urged to announce a new pensions dashboards timeline after the mandatory deadline was extended.

In March, the pensions minister Laura Trott extended the 31 August 2023 deadline due to technicalities.

Trott said additional time was needed to deliver the technical solution to enable the connection of pension providers and schemes.

However, pensions experts want to see a new timeline announced sooner to get firms participating in the dashboards programme better prepared.

“It’s imperative that the regulator and the PDP make a statement as soon as possible as to the new timelines. Without this I think there is a real risk some firms will take their foot off the gas and potentially be caught out when the new timelines are announced.

“In fact, we’re already hearing of projects being mothballed from a few firms struggling with conflicting priorities,” Nick Meredith, Equisoft UK product director, told Money Marketing.

“The delay will at least allow the programme to take stock of any areas which were not quite ready and ensure a new staging date is achievable. Our expectation is that any delay will be relatively short as our early testing of the infrastructure suggests most of what’s needed is nearly there and only minor changes were outstanding.”

Equisoft UK provides pension and investment transfer solutions to the market. Its Pension Fusion is recognised and regarded for SaaS solutions.

It is a Pensions Dashboards ISP Service Provider and one of the dashboards programme’s first alpha partners.

Meredith told Money Marketing that Equisoft had a good working relationship with the Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP).

Asked whether his firm is frustrated with the pensions dashboards delay, he said it was in the process of staging clients into the live environment when the extension announcement was made in March this year.

“Such a late announcement is less than ideal. Not being able to state a new timeline though is more frustrating though as we’re left without a clear goal. Our advice to our clients and the market is carry on as before. Not many firms were ahead of the curve, so I don’t think people should feel they have an easy ride now,” he said.

When asked about the financial cost of the delay to his firm, he said: “Some clients will likely delay signing up to our Pension Fusion ISP service as they defer their projects.

“With clients now presumably not staging until sometime in 2024, staged licence payments will also come in later. It’s a minor blow rather than anything worse and besides we’re in this for the long game.”

On the challenges of data migration and management, Meredith said that data quality is vital to the success of the matching element of the programme.

“The challenge differs for each organisation which is why we don’t have a one size fits all solution. Our Pension Fusion solution offers numerous ways to connect and supply data as well as providing comprehensive standard and fuzzy matching capabilities.

“We and our partners ITM bring a wealth of value-added services and experience to bear which puts us in a unique position to address each client individually,” he said.

The Pensions Dashboards Programme was introduced in 2015 in a bid to help savers reunite with lost pensions pots as well as plan for retirement.

It was originally planned to launch in 2019. But has faced several delays.

It is not yet clear when the timeline will be announced but pension savers say the long delay is creating an atmosphere of uncertainty.

However, the benefit for consumers of pensions dashboards could not be overstated.

Meredith believes that the dashboards programme will be successful “if the data provided to consumers covers all their pensions including the state pension”. But, he said, presenting an incomplete view of an individual’s pensions could cause confusion or lead to a lack of trust in the system.

“It’s been great to see the commitment from many sectors of the industry in ensuring this should be a reality.

“In time I would like to see dashboards become a hygiene factor for financial institutions, eventually allowing them to offer additional services such as advice and consolidation.”

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