The Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) has published further guidance on deferred connection to pensions dashboards.
The government believe pensions dashboards will “revolutionise the way people interact with their pensions” by allowing individuals to see their all their pensions information in one place online.
It added that dashboards will also help savers to be reunited with lost or forgotten pensions and support people in better planning for their retirement.
The DWP requires all relevant occupational pension schemes (those with 100 or more relevant members) to be connected to a dashboard digital architecture by 31 October 2026.
Today (2 February), it has published more information for trustees or managers of relevant occupational pension schemes and their advisers about how they can apply to defer connection of the scheme beyond this date.
They will be able to defer connection by up to 12 months if they can provide evidence to show that, before 9 August 2023 they had embarked on a programme to transfer the data held by the pension scheme to a new administrator; and/or they had entered into a contract containing an obligation to retender the administration of the scheme and the timetable for this is reasonable and conflicts with the connection deadline.
These are the only reasons that an application to defer connection can be made.
The trustee or manager will additionally need to provide evidence to show that complying with the connection deadline would be disproportionately burdensome; or would put the personal data of members at risk.
This means that changing administrator alone would not be considered sufficient reason to defer connection beyond 31 October 2026.
The DWP said: “It is DWP’s primary objective to ensure that pensions dashboard services are made available for use by the general public at the earliest opportunity.
“Therefore, it is expected that work by a pension scheme to change administrator should be carried out in an efficient way and consideration should also be given to any connection guidance issued by The Pensions Regulator, the Money and Pensions Service, or DWP.
“All applications for deferral must therefore set out the steps being taken to ensure that the pension scheme can connect to the dashboard digital architecture at the earliest opportunity.”
Jon Pocock, pension dashboard delivery manager at independent consultancy Broadstone said: “The latest guidance on pensions dashboards set out a common-sense approach for trustees or managers who may need to defer connecting their pension scheme to the digital architecture by up to a year.
“It is encouraging that the parameters for deferral are relatively limited as it is vital for a successful dashboard launch that full service covering as many savers as possible is achieved at the earliest possible opportunity.
“Schemes will only be granted a delay if they have started a data transfer to a new administrator or recently entered into a new contract retendering the administration of the scheme – changing administrator alone is not sufficient reason.
“It marks another small step towards the implementation of the project that has the potential to fundamentally reshape how pension savers view and engage their pots so we should give it our full support as an industry.”
