Savers will be able to see pension pots in one place under dashboard scheme

Some savers may have a four-year wait to be able to see all their pensions together online through a new dashboard scheme.

Pensions dashboards allow people to access information about all their pensions in one place online.

They will bring together information from multiple sources, including on the state pension, and will include the accrued and projected values of pensions.

Seeing all the information pieced together for the first time could help people to plan for retirement and make the most of their savings.

A consultation on the draft regulations around the new dashboards has been published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Schemes will come on board in three waves under the plans, with large schemes jumping on between April 2023 and September 2024, medium schemes between October 2024 and October 2025 and the smallest schemes expected to come on board from 2026.

Schemes should be able to connect earlier than their compulsory staging deadline where there is capacity, the consultation document said.

It added that to ensure that all schemes have a reasonable chance of being able to comply with their connection duties, there may be some “limited flexibility” to defer a deadline for up to 12 months.

Tom Selby, head of retirement policy at AJ Bell, said: “Anyone expecting dashboards to be launched immediately with bells and whistles attached might be disappointed by the relatively slow staging timetable outlined today.

“Some savers may need to wait over four years to see all their pensions online via dashboards, although for those with pensions in larger schemes it should be much faster.

“The Government has understandably focused on getting the biggest schemes to comply first as this is where the majority of pensions are held.

“Once a ‘critical mass’ of schemes has been reached and prototypes have been fully tested, dashboards will then be made available to the public.”

Becky O’Connor, head of pensions and savings at interactive investor, said: “Millions of pension savers stand to benefit from being able to see all their pensions in one place, so pensions dashboards are a really important initiative, with the potential to drive greater engagement and ultimately, bigger pension pots in retirement.

“Research shows that as the jobs market has become more mobile, even some younger workers in their 20s are saying they already have four or more pension pots behind them – you can easily see how some of these valuable pots of money could get lost in a lifetime of career and address moves.”

She added: “It’s important to avoid a situation where the same data can end up being presented differently, for example, variances in credit scores from different credit agencies, as this could lead to confusion. If all dashboard providers are using the same sources and following the same guidelines, this can hopefully be avoided.”

Karl Lidgley, client manager for third-party administration, Hymans Robertson, said: “We know times are hard for people and as an industry we must do everything we can to maximise every possible penny people will have for retirement.”