The DWP has delivered a ‘major’ pension change alert for millions of Brits (Image: Getty)
The DWP’s multi-million-pound dashboard to help savers track down their pension money is finally on track for completion after a seven-year delay. Officials have confirmed the long-awaited MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard is on course to meet its critical October 31 deadline to connect thousands of pension schemes to the service.
As of July, 85% of pension schemes are connected, integrating more than 70 million private pension records and tens of millions of State Pension records. The tool is expected to go live to the public next year, allowing users to see all of their pension pots in one place. Torsten Bell, Minister for Pensions, said: “We are on track for a major pensions moment, where for the first time people will be able to see their share of the UK’s £3 trillion of pensions wealth in one place.”
MP Torsten Bell described the update as a ‘major pension moment’ (Image: PA)
“For too long, savers have had little visibility of what they’ve built up over a lifetime of work – that changes with dashboards.”
Users will be able to access the dashboard using their secure GOV.UK One Login to see all their pension pots and projections at once, including their projected state pension. Early testing with roughly 4,000 people has appeared successful, routinely uncovering forgotten pension cash.
The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) said early users gave the service “a strong vote of confidence”, highlighting that it is notably “straightforward” to use.
The project, which was first mooted in 2015, was originally planned to launch in 2019. The roll-out plans were extended in 2023; however, technicalities meant the deadline was pushed forward to 2026.
Mr Bell confirmed to the Express: “We are hugely on track for the deadlines that have been set out, including making sure pension schemes are connected by October.”
He added: “We are very confident the rest can get there.”
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Oliver Morley, CEO of MaPS, said: “It is exciting to see the positive experience enjoyed by people who have tested the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard, and the real difference it will make to tackling low engagement with pensions.
“By bringing together a person’s pensions information in one online and secure place, the dashboard will be a vital part of improving retirement outcomes for so many people across the UK.”
To eliminate data privacy risks, officials said the dashboard will not store any financial data. Instead, it blasts a user’s name, date of birth and National Insurance number out to millions of pension schemes across the country, pulling the data back into a single view within “nanoseconds”.
By July 14, the technology is expected to support all major pension types in the UK, including Collective Defined Contribution (CDC) and Defined Benefit (DB) pensions.
The Government has committed to giving the public at least a six-month warning before the system officially opens, with current timelines slating the rollout to occur during the 2027/28 financial year.
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has confirmed that schemes missing the October 2026 statutory deadline can expect regulatory scrutiny, and wilful or reckless non-compliance will be met with “robust enforcement”.