Pensions Minister announces reset of the Pensions Dashboards Programme

The Minister for Pensions announced in March 2023 that the Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) would be reset, according to the National Audit Office¹. The reset followed delivery problems that had already pushed back the connection timetable: the first deadline for pension providers and schemes to connect to the programme's digital architecture had been 31 August 2023¹.

The PDP is intended to let people view information about their pensions, including the State Pension, online and in one place¹. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for policy, and has delegated delivery to the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS)¹. The programme's purpose is to design and implement the digital architecture that connects pension providers and schemes with dashboards¹.

In June 2023 the Pensions Minister laid amending regulations that replaced the staged timeline with a single mandatory connection deadline of 31 October 2026¹. There had originally been 23 separate staging deadlines depending on schemes' size and type, with the first on 31 August 2023 and the last on 31 October 2025¹. In March 2024 DWP published a revised staging timetable in guidance, to mitigate the risk that many providers and schemes connect close to the deadline; providers must have regard to the guidance but the dates are not legally binding¹. DWP has not yet specified when dashboards will be available to the public¹.

The estimated cost of the programme has risen from £235 million in 2020 to £289 million in 2023, an increase of 23%, or £54 million in cash terms, driven by higher supplier costs, changes to MaPS's costing assumptions and a two-year extension of the period covered, to 2031-32¹. MaPS now estimates benefits at £413 million, assuming dashboards become available in November 2026, down from an earlier figure of £437 million that assumed availability from October 2024¹. The estimated net present social value has fallen from £268 million to £211 million¹. In September 2021 MaPS signed a five-year contract with Capgemini worth £44 million, with an option to extend for two further years¹. In July 2022 the Infrastructure and Projects Authority awarded the programme a "red" delivery confidence rating, indicating that successful delivery appeared unachievable, and in December 2022 MaPS told DWP the delivery timetable was no longer viable¹. In April 2024 MaPS announced it had appointed a new senior responsible owner¹.

Why it matters for households

Pensions dashboards are intended to let people see their pension information, including the State Pension, in one place online, and to help them trace lost pots¹. The NAO puts the estimated value of lost pension pots at £26.6 billion in 2022, and estimates 16.3 million potential users of dashboards in steady state¹. The connection deadline for providers and schemes is 31 October 2026, a year later than the final deadline in the original timetable¹. It has not been reported when the public will be able to use dashboards; DWP has not yet specified a date¹. The estimated cost to the pensions industry of delivering dashboards from 2022-23 to 2031-32 is £688 million¹.

What happens next

DWP published a revised staging timetable in guidance in March 2024, setting out when different providers and schemes are expected to connect; the dates are not legally binding but providers must have regard to them¹. Connections to the digital architecture are scheduled to be completed in 2026-27, after which MaPS will move the programme to business as usual¹. MaPS announced a new senior responsible owner in April 2024¹.