On the go: Data security on the pensions dashboards is the primary concern among pension scheme administrators, according to a survey from financial solutions company Bravura.
Along with its pensions software subsidiary Delta Financial Systems, Bravura partnered with KGC Associates for a survey covering 17 scheme administrators and eight in-house administered schemes, summarising its findings in a white paper on dashboards preparedness.
All participants surveyed said they would be able to meet the deadline to connect with dashboards, albeit at the cost of other projects that would have to be deprioritised given the pressure on resources.
In order to meet staging dates, 60 per cent of administrators and nearly 80 per cent of the schemes covered in the survey said they intended to buy an integrated service provider solution in order to get around the resource challenges and handle (potentially) thousands of daily requests and enquiries.
Data security and control ranked highest on the list of concerns both for schemes and administrators. Trustees remain responsible for data provided to dashboards, meaning administrators must be able to convince their clients that their data will be safe.
When asked to list top dashboard worries, data security ranked first for pension schemes, followed by “implementation window/project resources”, while for administrators this was reversed.
On the question of connection timelines — currently slated to begin from April 2023 — a third of the eight responding schemes said they expected the staging windows to slip once more, while a quarter of the 17 administrators polled said the same thing.
The white paper concluded that scheme and administrator preparedness is not as advanced as might perhaps be desirable, given that the first staging deadline falls in just a few months.
It cited continuing uncertainty about regulations and requirements, as well as costs and resource concerns, but also a lack of awareness among trustees of their obligations and the amount of work required to meet them, while a lack of competition and “final solutions” is hampering the progress of administrators.
Jonathan Hawkins, principal consultant and pensions specialist at Bravura, said: “Following years of false starts and endless debate, Pensions Dashboards Programme connection dates are rapidly approaching, but our research shows pension schemes are concerned about the impact this ambitious project has on their day-to-day business.
“Dashboards present an enormous challenge to the retirement savings sector and, understandably, pension schemes, [third-party administrator] and pension providers may not feel confident to build and maintain their own connections to comply and make dashboards a success. Our research shows that many plan to buy in a trusted ISP.”
KGC Associates director Lesley Carline added: “This is an incredibly important topic for the financial services sector as the next step in giving individuals greater freedom, visibility and control over their pensions.
“However, the PDP has been a long time coming because it is not a simple undertaking. Finding and presenting pensions data from multiple sources, including schemes, platforms and providers, in one place is no mean feat.
“To live up to the expectations of pension savers and the government, pension schemes and providers will need to make sure their data, systems and processes are in order well ahead of the connection deadline.”
