MaPS tells DWP the PDP delivery timetable is no longer viable

The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) told the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in December 2022 that the Pensions Dashboards Programme's (PDP's) delivery timetable was no longer viable¹. The programme had already been rated "red" for delivery confidence by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority in July 2022, indicating that successful delivery appeared unachievable¹.

The first deadline for pension providers and schemes to connect to the digital architecture was 31 August 2023¹. There were originally 23 separate staging deadlines for connecting, depending on pension schemes' size and type, with the last deadline set at 31 October 2025¹. In March 2023 the Minister for Pensions announced that the programme would be reset¹, and in June 2023 the Pensions Minister laid amending regulations that replaced the staged timeline with a single mandatory connection deadline of 31 October 2026¹. In March 2024, DWP published a revised staging timetable in guidance¹. Providers will be required to have regard to the guidance, including the timetable, but the dates will not be legally binding¹.

The estimated cost of the PDP has risen from £235 million in 2020 to £289 million in 2023, an increase of 23%¹. A range of factors led to the estimated cost increasing in cash terms by £54 million, including an increase in supplier costs, changes to MaPS's underlying costing assumptions, and the period covered being extended by two years to 2031-32¹. From April 2019 to March 2024, MaPS spent £59 million on the PDP¹. The estimated cost to the pensions industry of delivering pensions dashboards from 2022-23 to 2031-32 is £688 million¹.

MaPS now estimates programme benefits at £413 million, assuming that dashboards become available in November 2026¹. It had previously calculated a gross discounted benefit figure of £437 million, assuming the service would be available from October 2024 and that there would be 16.3 million potential users in steady state¹. The estimated net present social value of the programme has decreased from £268 million to £211 million¹. The estimated value of lost pension pots in 2022 was £26.6 billion¹.

Why it matters for households

Pensions dashboards are intended to allow people to view information about their pensions, including the State Pension, online, securely and in one place¹. DWP expects they will help people plan better for retirement, make more informed financial decisions and connect with lost pension pots¹. The value of lost pension pots was estimated at £26.6 billion in 2022¹.

The connection deadline for pension providers and schemes has moved from a staged timetable beginning on 31 August 2023 and ending on 31 October 2025 to a single mandatory deadline of 31 October 2026¹. It has not yet been decided when pensions dashboards will be available to the public¹. DWP has not specified a date, but the later connection deadline means public availability is expected to be later than previously expected¹.

In April 2024, MaPS announced that it had appointed a new senior responsible owner¹. In September 2021, MaPS signed a five-year contract with Capgemini, worth £44 million, with the option to extend for a further two years¹.

What happens next

Connections to the digital architecture are scheduled to be completed in 2026-27, after which MaPS will transition the programme to business as usual¹. The revised staging timetable published by DWP in March 2024 is guidance rather than law, and providers will be required to have regard to it¹. No date has been set for when pensions dashboards will be available to the public¹.