Could Standard Life launch be welcome shot in the arm for delayed pensions dashboard?

In June the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)  delayed its Pensions Dashboards Programme until 31 October 2026.

The news, which followed other delays, was greeted with a mixture of annoyance and disappointment, as pension schemes had been planning to connect to dashboards in August in preparation for a public launch later this year.

Pensions dashboards promise to help savers keep on track of their pots, and are seen as key to solving the small pots issue but their development has been riddled with delays.

Regulatory issues

Earlier this week Standard Life announced it was ready to launch the UK's first commercial pensions dashboard, allowing its four million customers to find and view their known and forgotten state, workplace and personal pensions.

However, it can only launch the service once the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) approves it as a qualifying pensions dashboard service.

This is a lengthy process that started when the FCA consulted on the regulatory framework for commercial pensions dashboards from December 2022 to February 2023. 

Once HM Treasury amends the Regulated Activities Order to make provision of a Pensions Dashboard Service (PDS) a new FCA-regulated activity, then the Regulator will publish its final conduct rules for PDS operators. 

After that, the FCA will open its Authorisations Gateway, to enable firms, such as Standard Life, to apply for authorisation as a PDS Operator.

Pensions: The lost £27bn 

However, before FCA can grant regulatory permission, it will need to ensure that all key risks of consumer harms have been mitigated and it will also have to assess whether Standard Life and Moneyhub have together tested that consumers understand the pension information they are seeing on their dashboard.

Gail Izat, managing director of workplace at Standard Life, said: “It’s important that the FCA takes the right amount of time to ensure that dashboards are safe for consumers to use. However, the lack of a comprehensive view of their retirement savings and the scale of lost pots, estimated to be over £27bn, means that savers could also be hurt by any unnecessary delays.”

Standard Life customers currently benefit from being able to build a complete view of their retirement savings, through its wider financial wellness tool, Money Mindset.

However, Standard Life said it intends to lead the market in delivery of a commercial pensions dashboard, recognising both the complexities of, and length of time, it will take to launch a compliant Variation of Permission application to the FCA and an engaging dashboard experience for customers.

Even Standard Life’s parent company, Phoenix Group hopes to extend dashboard access to all of its 12 million UK customers in due course.

Pensions dashboard implementation

However, pensions dashboard are notoriously difficult to create, which could be another reason why other providers have not been at the forefront of development.

Izat added:  “Pensions dashboards aren't just a single piece of tech. They're enabled by a suite of complex rules and technologies, delivered collaboratively by various parts of Government, regulators and industry. All of these technology components must work together securely, effectively and efficiently, so that, when dashboards are launched to the public, consumers can use them with confidence, in the knowledge they are safe and secure. 

“This complex and detailed testing phase could take some time but is crucial so dashboards land well when they are publicly launched. But dashboards will be of great benefit to consumers and should be launched as quickly as possible to help people take control of their retirement savings.”

In March, pensions minister Laura Trott delayed the implementation of the pension dashboard. At the time, she said that more would be needed to make sure the dashboards comply with the latest regulatory rules and guidance set out in 2022.

This led to further complications, which were noted in June when a survey by the Society of Pension Professionals (SPP), found nearly three quarters of consultants had seen a slowdown in related activities since the programme reset announcement and new deadlines.

The SPP said the significance of the 72 figure indicated that the industry was facing an uphill battle, with many pension schemes understandably prioritising more urgent tasks and treating the deferral as a good reason to slow down their dashboards preparation, despite encouragement not to do so.

Universal effort and collaboration needed

Becky O’Connor, director of public affairs at PensionBee, said although pensions dashboards are a good idea and in the consumer interest, this consensus unfortunately has not translated into a universal effort to make it happen.

She said: “The pensions dashboards require huge collaboration and alignment across a massive industry with dozens of providers.

“Pension companies have had to come up with the processes and technological solutions to plug their customer data into a central system – and to do so accurately and securely. This is a mammoth operation requiring a lot of resources, particularly for the big life companies that have been around for decades.

“Some providers are having to bring legacy books of customer data previously largely held in filing cabinets into the 21st century. There have also been technological difficulties on the Government’s side, which have also caused delays.”

She added that not all providers will create commercial pensions dashboards – some will just direct customers to the main Government version. Many may also be waiting for the Government to make the next stage happen.

This is why Standard Life chose Moneyhub to create the dashboard. The company is no stranger to the industry and is the Government’s partner for its  Pensions Dashboards Programme, Alpha Dashboard.This means it is already aware of consumer duty and FCA’s regulatory requirements.

Izat said: “Operating a commercial pensions dashboard will be a highly regulated activity and is going to take many months to prepare for, including obtaining permissions from the FCA.  

“That’s why we are working in partnership with Moneyhub and putting the building blocks in place so that we’ll hit the ground running. The timeline for delivery is dependent on the Government's programme, but we’re doing as much work as is currently possible to be ready for that point.”