The UK’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has today published a consultation for the Pensions Dashboards regulation.
Pensions Dashboards: consultation on the draft Pensions Dashboards Regulations 2022 is a “significant step towards the realisation of pensions dashboards, as the consultation sets out the draft regulations on the key duties for occupational pension schemes to participate in pensions dashboards,” the Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) stated.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will consult on parallel proposals for personal pension providers within the next few weeks.
DWP will run consultation for six weeks, from today until Sunday 13 March.
This consultation is the next step following last year’s PDP call for input on proposals for the staged compulsory connection of pension providers to the dashboards ecosystem.
The secondary legislation laid out in the consultation will introduce duties on occupational schemes to connect into the pensions dashboards ecosystem, receive find requests, undertake matching, register pension identifiers for any found pensions and to return pension information in response to view requests, according to the DWP.
The draft regulations also set out what the duties will be on dashboard providers, with duties to present the pensions information that occupational schemes and DWP – for state pension information – will return to dashboards as it is, without changing it and in accordance with the PDP design standards, it said.
Standards
The draft regulations make provision for mandatory standards associated with pensions dashboards, delegating authority to PDP to set those standards.
To support those wishing to respond to the consultation, PDP has published information about the scope of its standards and how it will set them, with some examples of what the standards could contain.
Paul McGlone, former president of the Society of Pension Professionals, said: “This consultation covers a number of key areas where further clarity is urgently needed, but rather than jump to conclusions, the industry needs time to digest what has been proposed. The industry is already working closely with the Pensions Dashboards Programme and the Department of Work and Pensions on dashboards, and the publication of new material today will help that work to progress.”
Ben Pollard, chief executive officer and founder of fintech pension and savings provider Cushon, said: “In order for the dashboard to be effective, it needs to include alerts and wider financial wellbeing guidance so people can think holistically about their financial situation.”
He said that as part of information on value for money, providers should be required to be transparent about their sustainability credentials. “Only by making pensions relevant to issues that people care about – such as the environment – can we ensure they engage with their savings.”
Nigel Peaple, director of policy and advocacy at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA), said: “The publication of the draft Pensions Dashboards Regulations today is a significant milestone, giving schemes more clarity about what the regulatory system governing the dashboards ecosystem will look like in practice.”
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