The pensions industry has been given more time to prepare for the Pensions Dashboards next year.
The notice the government must specify on how services will be made available has been increased from 90 days to six months.
Alex Burghart, the minister for pensions and financial inclusion, said: “By making this change to at least six months’ notice, the regulations provide greater certainty for the pensions industry to make final preparations for the public launch of pensions dashboard services.”
Pensions Dashboards will provide an all-in-one hub for people to see their pensions but will take several years to roll out in full.
The latest change has been made in response to the Department of Work and Pensions’ latest consultation on the Pensions Dashboards programme.
The consultation launched on 28 June and closed on 19 July and consulted on how Pensions Dashboard services would be made available to the public. The DWP called that the Dashboards Available Point or DAP.
The DWP said it received 49 responses from trade bodies, representatives of occupational pension schemes, personal and stakeholder pension providers, public service pension schemes, administrators, software providers, legal and consultancy firms, a small number of consumer groups and others.
In response to the question: “Do you agree that 90 days is a reasonable period between the DAP formally being announced, and the DAP itself?” almost 70% of respondents said that 90 days was an unreasonable notice period and that 6 months would be a more appropriate minimum notice period.
The main concern was the resource implications of preparing for the DAP, according to respondents who indicated that pension schemes anticipated a significant increase in the number of queries from their members after the DAP.
In addition, there were three responses, two from pension schemes and one from the Society of Pensions Professionals, who said it was important that those wishing to offer their own dashboard service had a fair and equal chance to launch their dashboard from the point of the DAP.
They said a longer notice period would provide more time to obtain authorisation and/or permission from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) once the date of the DAP is known.
The DWP also said it expected that the information that the Secretary of State needs to consider in making the decision whether the dashboards ecosystem is ready to support widespread use should be in place by April.
It said that the new six months’ notice period will give the pensions industry sufficient time to prepare for its preferred option of a single DAP. The DWP said multiple DAPs “could be confusing both in terms of user experience and ensuring consumer communication campaigns are clear and effective.”
In June The Pensions Regulator warned pension trustees that they need to prepare now for the arrival of Pensions Dashboards amid signs few are ready.
