There is less than 12 months to go until the 31 October 2026 deadline, when all pension schemes and providers in scope must connect to the pensions dashboards Central Digital Architecture.
The Pensions Regulator (TPR) reports that hundreds of occupational pension schemes and personal pension scheme providers have already connected to the dashboards ‘ecosystem’, covering more than 60 million records – equivalent to three-quarters of all records that are due to connect – while the state pension is also connected.
According to Lucy Stone, TPR’s dashboards business lead, the industry “is making good progress”, with recent research from the regulator finding that eight in 10 occupational pension schemes are on track to meet the timeline set out by the Department for Work and Pensions (see below).
The industry’s attention now turns to those remaining schemes still to connect and what they need to prioritise to ensure they either remain on track, or catch up to where they should be.
Chris Curry, principal of the Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP), says: “We’re in a very good place, but clearly there is still a lot of work to do. There is a quarter of memberships still to go and that’s over a much larger number of schemes.”
“We’ve built up a lot of momentum in the past six months and we really need to maintain that. I don’t want to underestimate the challenge that’s still there for the rest of the industry.”
Chris Curry, PDP
He adds: “We’ve built up a lot of momentum in the past six months and we really need to maintain that. I don’t want to underestimate the challenge that’s still there for the rest of the industry.”
Curry observes that the schemes with 2026 connection deadlines are typically smaller and may have fewer resources, while it has also not been “as high on their agenda as those who knew they were going early”.
His “main message” to the remaining schemes “is to make sure they know how they’re going to be connecting”.
When is your dashboard connection deadline?
| Deadline | Schemes affected |
|---|---|
| 30 November 2025 | Private sector schemes (1,000 to 1,499 members) |
| 31 January 2026 | All occupational schemes with 750 to 999 members Annuity providers, including bulk annuities, with fewer than 5,000 members FCA-regulated personal pension providers with fewer than 5,000 members Stakeholder pension providers with fewer than 5,000 members |
| 28 February 2026 | All occupational schemes with 600 to 749 members |
| 31 March 2026 | All occupational schemes with 400 to 599 members |
| 30 April 2026 | All occupational schemes with 320 to 399 members |
| 31 May 2026 | All occupational schemes with 250 to 319 members |
| 30 June 2026 | All occupational schemes with 195 to 249 members |
| 31 July 2026 | All occupational schemes with 155 to 194 members |
| 31 August 2026 | All occupational schemes with 125 to 154 members |
| 30 September 2026 | All occupational schemes with 100 to 124 members |
| 31 October 2026 | Final statutory deadline |
Data quality ‘critical’, says ABI
For TPR’s Stone, connection “is only part of the story”, with the success of dashboards ultimately dependent on good data. TPR says one in four occupational pension schemes still have some form of non-digital data.
Henry Cainen, policy adviser for long-term savings at the Association of British Insurers, agrees that, for the remaining providers and schemes, “particular focus must be given to ensuring their member data is accurate and complete”.
“High-quality data is critical to enable precise matching and ensure the platform functions seamlessly once live,” he adds.
In 2023, the Pensions Administration Standards Association (PASA) published Connection Readiness Guidance, which set out five key pillars: governance, matching, pensions values, technology, and administration.
Maurice Titley, chair of the PASA Dashboards Working Group and director at Lumera, says: “In a sense, those that have outsourced administration are in an easier place on the technology front because it’s likely their administrator will have a solution for connecting. If they don’t have that, then it’s one of the things that should be top of the list – what that solution should be.”
He adds that, in terms of priorities, trustee boards need to “get your plans together first and make sure you know how it feeds into your trustee governance approach and reporting”.
“Then I’d move into pension value provision because that can take the longest time and amount of effort to put into place,” Titley explains.
Beyond connection: ‘Consumer is king’
As independent consultant Richard Smith points out: “For completeness of coverage, we need to get through the next year. But all the continental dashboards launched long before they had 100% coverage.”
Smith is more concerned with the potential for dashboards after October 2026 to change schemes’ relationship with consumers.
“What dashboards do when they’re live and launched, they totally change the pensions universe to one where the consumer is king,” he says.
The ABI’s Cainen expects the MoneyHelper Dashboard – currently being developed by the Money and Pensions Service – will lead to increased engagement from consumers, and therefore, increased contact with pension providers.
He adds: “For ultimate success, it’s vital that private dashboards can go beyond visibility. They must empower users to take meaningful action.”
Ellie Duncan is a freelance journalist.
PDP’s Chris Curry to speak at Pensions Expert Annual Conference
Chris Curry, principal at the Pensions Dashboards Programme, is to deliver a keynote address at the Pensions Expert Annual Conference later this month.
He will give an update on the dashboards initiative with testing now underway, and will join a panel discussion with LPPA chief finance officer Abigail Leech and independent consultant Richard Smith.
A small number of spaces are available for the two-day conference on 26 and 27 November at Pennyhill Park in Surrey. To register, visit the dedicated webpage here. You can see the latest agenda here.
