First participant connects to pensions dashboards ecosystem

The first participant connected to the pensions dashboards ecosystem in March 2025, according to the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) pensions dashboards progress update report for December 2025¹. The Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP), which MaPS oversees, has been working with around 20 industry participants and the State Pension on direct connection to the ecosystem¹.

On 17 April 2025, the first pension provider finalised connection ahead of the first "connect by" date in Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) guidance¹. By December 2025, 700 pension providers and schemes had completed connection, representing over 60 million workplace and personal pension records, or 75 per cent of those in scope¹. The State Pension has also connected, adding tens of millions of State Pension records¹. Sixteen participants in total have completed the connection process, with 18 having passed integration testing¹.

Under the Pensions Dashboards Regulations 2022 and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Handbook requirements, pension providers and schemes in scope must connect to the ecosystem by 31 October 2026¹. Under DWP guidance, the next staging date for FCA regulated providers is 31 January 2026¹. The guidance timetable is not mandatory, but The Pensions Regulator and the FCA expect providers and schemes to demonstrate they have had regard to it when deciding their connection date¹.

Testing of the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard, which MaPS is developing, began with a small number of industry experts in August 2025¹. Consumer testing runs over two phases: the first, ongoing, includes moderated testing with a small amount of unmoderated testing, recruiting workplace pension scheme staff, research panel members, users of assistive technology and those with access needs; the second will be predominantly unmoderated, with participants recruited from pension providers' and schemes' customer bases and elsewhere¹. The first phase has passed its halfway point, with 24 users observed across the first two rounds¹. MaPS said testing so far has been broadly positive, though participants had higher than average pension knowledge, having been recruited from the pensions and finance industry¹. Testing has focused on users with defined contribution pensions and a State Pension also being returned¹.

In a written statement in October 2024, the government said the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard would be made available to the public before private sector dashboards¹. On 9 July 2025, the Minister for Pensions, Torsten Bell MP, announced DWP will give six months' notice before the launch of the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard¹. The date for private sector dashboards will be informed by factors including whether the service is safe, secure and reliable, monitored by DWP, MaPS and the regulators¹.

Why it matters for households

The dashboards ecosystem is the infrastructure behind a service intended to let people see their pension information in one place, including State Pension records and workplace and personal pensions. Connection is by pension providers and schemes, not by individuals: 75 per cent of workplace and personal pension records in scope were connected as of December 2025¹. The MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard, the first public-facing service, is in consumer testing and has not yet launched; DWP has said it will give six months' notice before launch¹. Private sector dashboards will follow the MoneyHelper service, with no date reported¹. The connection deadline for providers and schemes in scope is 31 October 2026¹.

What happens next

The next staging date for FCA regulated providers under DWP guidance is 31 January 2026¹. The statutory connection deadline for providers and schemes in scope is 31 October 2026¹. MaPS said rounds 3 and 4 of consumer testing are being planned, and it will soon start sharing insights from testing more broadly¹. It is also working to test the other four remaining pension types¹. DWP will give six months' notice before the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard launches¹.