Department for Work and Pensions approves scheme to enable people to monitor all their pensions entitlements in one place

One of the most ambitious IT projects ever undertaken in financial services, to provide individuals with an online “pensions dashboard” covering all the schemes they may have, has been given the go ahead by the government.

The Department for Work and Pensions is aiming to bring all the 64m different pension pots in Britain under one roof so that individuals can see all their entitlements in one place.



The pensions dashboard will bring all pensions online from 2019, showing individuals what they have saved at different employers, plus their state pension entitlements. It will integrate data from hundreds of different pension companies as well as the government’s National Insurance database.

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The pensions minister, Guy Opperman, called the project “revolutionary”, adding: “A well-designed and thought through pensions dashboard has the potential to enhance consumer engagement and help people make better decisions.

“We want to maximise people’s engagement in their pensions while maintaining their trust. We will ensure that consumer interests are properly safeguarded and their information protected.”

To date, the initiative has drawn upon the input of 16 pension firms, six technology companies and regulators covering 64m different pension pots.

The former pensions minister Steve Webb, now at insurer Royal London, said the industry had “started to despair at the lack of momentum” in the project, but said the announcement was a huge step forward. “Other countries have had services of this sort for many years and it is time that the UK caught up,” he said.

An early attempt to provide all pension information in one place, called the combined pension forecast, was launched in 2001 but ran into major technical challenges. The service found it difficult to cope with individuals who may have had several jobs, career breaks, patchy National Insurance records and a mix of public sector final salary style schemes and private sector stock market-based pensions.

Tom Selby, senior analyst at pension adviser AJ Bell, said: “On a practical level, the proposed 2019 implementation deadline might be a stretch. Legislation will inevitably be needed to ensure maximum coverage, particularly from closed-book providers who hold information on outdated systems that would likely require expensive upgrades.

“There also remains significant doubt as to whether millions of public sector workers will be able to view their pensions through the dashboard. Public sector schemes were given a carve-out from the pension freedoms and, given the pressures on resources at the moment, the government may be tempted to exclude them again.”