The UK’s wealth management and pensions industry was disappointed to hear that the long-awaited Pensions Dashboard project would be put on hold.
The Pensions Dashboard idea was first talked about in 2015 as a way to put all of the information that savers need about their pensions in one online place.
It was supposed to go live in 2019, but that has been pushed back more than once.
Laura Trott, who is in charge of pensions, said that technical and regulatory problems were to blame for the latest setback.
“More time is needed to deliver this complex build, and for the pensions industry to help facilitate the successful connection of a wide range of different IT systems to the dashboards digital architecture,” said Trott.
Several pension providers, wealth managers, and investment platforms were upset by the decision. “The Pension Dashboard Programme is an incredibly ambitious project,” said Lily Megson, policy director at My Pension Expert. “And I applaud the government for not rushing to push out an inadequate project; it must be done right. That said, this delay is a disappointing turn of events.”
Nick Meredith, who is in charge of products at the software company Equisoft, said that it’s not surprising that a project with so many moving parts would be delayed, but he was frustrated that there isn’t a firm date for a restart yet.
Alice Guy, the personal finance editor at wealth management platform Interactive Investor, said something similar:
“This is a very technical project that needs new IT systems and digital architecture to allow pension providers to share pension information in a safe and accurate way.”
“Although the delay is disappointing, it’s important that the practicalities of the pensions dashboards project are worked through to make sure the new system is a success.“
