Security and accuracy: the pillars of dashboard success

But more needs to be done to address security concerns if it is going to be a success, and it must deliver on its potential to improve consumers’ savings journey.

It is vital that the dashboard only shows personal data to the correct individual. The Department for Work and Pensions has specifically mentioned that it wants security to be paramount, and we would all hope for our data to be handled with care.

It is for the industry to now develop a dashboard that carries accurate and comprehensive data, so people can find all their pensions in one place

Sixty-five per cent of people believe it is very important that the company managing a pensions dashboard should only share data with them.

Accuracy key to success

Furthermore, it is not enough to share the data in a safe and secure way – the summary delivered by the dashboard must be completely up to date to ensure optimal engagement.

But pensions providers have a real challenge ahead of them to ensure that consumers see only the correct data.

Our research found many thousands of records held by providers are missing correct addresses, first names or surnames. These types of mistakes mean people will not see all their pensions in one place.

For every million records held by a pension provider, we typically find:

Dashboard enables consumer education

Exactly 50 per cent of people we surveyed believed a dashboard should go further than just their pensions and show them all their financial information and assets in one place.

While the dashboard has been fully backed by the government, there is work to do when it comes to highlighting its benefits and raising public engagement.

The biggest roadblock to creating a more financially savvy population – with a secure future – is simply people not knowing enough about retirement savings.

Other research has found one in eight people have no idea how many pension pots they have, and three in 10 do not know who their workplace pension provider is.

Further research reveals that 78 per cent of people admit they do not know where to look to tell if they are on track with their retirement savings.

The pensions dashboard will help to manage this very real problem and help savers to feel more in control of their pension savings.

It is for the industry to now develop a dashboard that carries accurate and comprehensive data, so people can find all their pensions in one place. Once it is in place, it is sure to become a valuable resource for retirement planning.

Richard Howells is director of insurance, wealth, life and pensions at Experian