Only 39 per cent of attendees, including pension scheme trustees, lawyers, and managers, had prepared a pensions dashboard ‘project plan’, according to a survey conducted during a webinar hosted by LCP.
Earlier this week attendees of an industry webinar were asked if they had prepared a pensions dashboard ‘project plan’. As well as the 39 per cent of respondents who said they had prepared, 42 per cent said they hadn’t, and 19 per cent weren’t sure.
Larger schemes are expected to be integrated into the pensions dashboard ‘ecosystem’ by the next year. But experts suggest that if preparation is not done now, there may be a severe capacity shortage when deadlines approach.
Additionally, the link between schemes and the dashboard environment was highlighted in the webinar. One can choose to receive help from an ‘integrated service provider’ or ISP or connect directly.
According to the survey, over one-third of the attendees intend to utilise an ISP, and 11 per cent intend to develop their own solution. But slightly more than half, 54 per cent, were unsure of how their plan would connect.
Other concerns surfaced, such as trustee flexibility in matching dashboard users with scheme lists and how schemes going through buyouts should manage dashboard responsibilities.
LCP issued a warning about a possible spike in pension searches. It advised schemes to plan for surge capacity and anticipate a spike in interest in transfers and consolidation later on.
LCP senior consultant Ella Holloway says: “It was surprising to see that so many schemes were yet to come up with a project plan for dashboards. Whilst momentum had stalled while the government re-set its timetable, it is now ‘full steam ahead’. Schemes should now know the date by which the government expects them to connect to the dashboards ecosystem, and the backstop deadline of October 2026 will be upon us before we know it.
“There is no doubt that the secret to making dashboards as painless as possible is planning, but many schemes clearly have a long way to go with dashboard preparedness. We are happy to help any scheme put together a plan to make sure they can meet their dashboard obligations on time.”
LCP senior consultant Marcus Renouf-Allen says: “Thousands of schemes will need to connect to the dashboards ecosystem, and a decision on how to do this needs to be made sooner rather than later. For smaller schemes in particular, it is likely that they will want to use the services of a specialist ISP, and there could be a rush to sign up to ISPs as deadlines approach. To avoid being a victim of a capacity crunch, schemes need to finalise their connection plans as soon as possible.”
