Pensions dashboard prototype ready for April – ABI

Developed by 17 pension firms and six technology companies, the dashboard prototype was created to prove it was possible to collect comprehensive information of a consumer’s pension savings and share it via easily accessible online locations.

The ABI, which oversaw the project on behalf of the Treasury, said the prototype had “delivered on its promises” and showed a successful dashboard could be built for the public in the future.

Economic secretary to the Treasury Simon Kirby will unveil the prototype for the first time at a TechSprint event held by the ABI in conjunction with Aviva on 12 April.

The full dashboard is due to be launched to the public before 2019 – a deadline set by ex-Chancellor George Osborne. The dashboard will allow consumers to have all their pension data in one place, making it easier for them to manage their savings.

However, Aviva, which has been involved in developing the prototype, previously warned new legislation would be required to force some providers to contribute the necessary data to the dashboard.

This was because they still held data on paper and spreadsheets, and would be reluctant to update their systems and provide the data.

Dashboard workings

The pensions dashboard does not store people’s data, but provides a framework for individual dashboards to fetch and deliver back information from various pension providers and schemes for each user.

Potential dashboard hosts are expected to range from fintech firms to pension providers and banks.

The decision for the dashboard to host on multiple websites followed a working group recommendation, which said the approach would have a positive effect on saving habits.

The system will show consumers all their savings on a single page, showing the names of the schemes and their estimated value at a particular retirement age. It will also provide an estimated value for people’s combined monthly or annual income in retirement.

ABI director of long-term savings and protection policy Yvonne Braun (pictured) said: “The prototype demonstrates once and for all that the technological hurdles can be overcome. Giving people access to clear information about all their pensions has the potential to revolutionise how they think about saving for their retirement.

“Now we must ensure industry, Government and regulators continue this close collaboration so the excellent work done so far can be developed into a valuable service the public can use by the Government’s target of 2019.”