Quoted in the Daily Mail this Saturday, the prime minister said: “This Government is committed to helping people plan for their future and making sure they can look forward to a more secure retirement that they’ve worked all their lives for.
“It needs to be easier for people to be able to make informed choices on their pension pots. That’s why bringing pensions online will transform retirement planning – giving people straightforward access to all their pension information in a single place. ‘I welcome the industry’s commitment to make this new technology a reality.”
The Mail reported Government officials as indicating they were working ‘closely with the pensions industry to offer a range of dashboards for people to choose from’.
Origo managing director Anthony Rafferty says: “There is no doubt in my mind that pensions dashboards will be instrumental in helping people to become more engaged with their pensions and also their retirement planning. With suitable controls and combined with education, guidance and advice pensions dashboards can be a massive catalyst to help consumers prepare for, and equally importantly, enjoy their retirement.
“Furthermore, we believe that pensions dashboards will be a foundation for innovation with the long-term savings industry and will be one of the biggest catalysts to engagement the industry has ever had.
“The industry has the right technology already developed and ready to make Pensions Dashboards a reality in a short space of time, certainly within 2019 if that is the timescale set by Government.
“We believe there are four key issues that now require strong government leadership and further detail and so that the industry can deliver the pensions dashboard – a requirement for compulsory scheme participation. This would enable delivery of a Dashboard with access to all pension data, making it more useful and so more valuable to the UK consumer;aneed for Government leadership on Digital Identity. Trust and security are fundamental to consumer confidence in using the Dashboards;a need to include the State Pension. This can make up a large proportion of an individual’s retirement finances; and arequirement for suitable governance to ensure the right decisions are made, fairly, in the interests of the UK citizen.
“With what is now a clear momentum behind pensions dashboards, we expect these issues to be clarified and for further progress to now be made on what is an innovative project and an exciting prospect for UK pension holders.”