Nearly 30 UK pension schemes have significantly improved the accuracy of their member data after adopting digital data enrichment technology over the past year, according to Heka Global.
In 2025, the technology company said it worked with 28 schemes on their data, reporting significant improvements across several key areas of member records – highlighting the scale of data gaps that still exist across pension schemes, less than a year before the statutory deadline for connection to the pensions dashboards data systems.
The improvements included identifying a next of kin for 58% of members, and finding a direct email address or mobile number for 305. More than a quarter (28%) of member records updated employment status, and in 8.2% of cases, the provider was able to identify deceased members.
“As pension funds prepare for dashboard compliance, the gaps in their membership data are increasingly evident – not just to the schemes and their members, but also to the regulatory authorities.”
Hattie Tales, Heka Global
Members were also traced across 36 different countries, underlining the increasingly international nature of pension scheme memberships.
Heka said that inaccurate, incomplete or disconnected member records were among the most persistent challenges facing pension schemes, whether preparing for dashboards compliance or exploring de-risking options such as buy-ins and buyouts.
Hattie Tales, head of UK pensions at Heka, said: “The cost of inaccurate membership data is becoming all too apparent. As pension funds prepare for dashboard compliance, the gaps in their membership data are increasingly evident – not just to the schemes and their members, but also to the regulatory authorities.”
The Pensions Regulator has urged providers and trustee boards to address ‘data debts’ as accuracy was vital to the success of the dashboards project.
Julian Lyne, TPR’s executive director of market oversight, last year said good quality data “can become a pension superpower” – but he also warned that those schemes that have not addressed data issues “are at real risk of letting savers down”.
PDP’s take on data quality
In an update from the Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) in November, the organisation urged pension schemes and providers to optimise their membership data to help reduce the burden on administrators once dashboards are made available to the public.
“Pension providers that embrace this opportunity to improve member data will find themselves better positioned to thrive in an increasingly digital and member-focused landscape.”
Pensions Dashboards Programme
“Data preparation for pensions dashboards undoubtedly requires a significant investment of time and resources,” the PDP stated. “However, pension providers and schemes will find it delivers value far beyond meeting regulatory requirements.
“It will improve the completeness and quality of the information shown on pensions dashboards, strengthening credibility and trust in this new service. It also has the potential to transform operations, enhance member value, and build stronger foundations for the future.
“As we move closer to the launch of pensions dashboards, pension providers and schemes that embrace this opportunity to improve member data will find themselves better positioned to thrive in an increasingly digital and member-focused landscape.”
Bulk annuities and data quality
Heka Global’s Tales added that poor-quality data could also have a direct financial impact on schemes pursuing insurance solutions.
“Many schemes exploring de-risking options are finding a very real financial cost – in the form of higher insurance premiums – because of uncertainty over fund liabilities stemming from inaccurate member data,” she said.
Recent bulk annuity deals, particularly those for very small pension schemes, have involved data cleansing exercises before going to market, which consultants and insurers have said often speeds up the process of securing a deal.
Tales said that by combining digital data enrichment with more traditional tracing tools, members previously thought to be “lost” could be reconnected, while materially improving data quality and reducing scheme risk.
