Pensions minister Laura Trott Image: parliament.uk (CC BY 3.0)
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has announced a change in the delivery date of the Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP).
Writing in a statement issued today (8 June), pensions minister Laura Trott said there would be a change to staging timelines for dashboards, which will be set out in upcoming regulations to provide more flexibility for the PDP.
She said more time was needed to deliver this complex build, and for the pensions industry to help facilitate the successful connection of a wide range of different IT systems to the dashboards digital architecture.
Trott added that, as part of the DWP's reset of the Pensions Dashboard Programme, she was today (8 June) laying amending regulations with a new approach to delivery that allows the government to work more collaboratively with the pensions industry - setting out the staging timeline in guidance to be consulted on with industry later this year.
She said: "Rather than setting out the entire staging timeline in legislation, we will instead set this out in guidance which we will collaborate on with industry this year".
Trott announced a connection deadline of 31 October 2026 for schemes to connect to the digital architecture "in recognition that the requirement to connect to the digital architecture should remain mandatory".
She clarified this would not be the ‘dashboards available point' - the point at which the programme will become available to the public - adding this could be earlier than the connection deadline.
"The government remains as committed as ever to making pensions dashboards a reality and we are ambitious about their delivery", Trott continued.
"I am confident that this re-appraised approach will enable us to make significant progress on delivering dashboards safely and securely, enabling consumers to take advantage of their benefits to plan for retirement."
The statement comes after the minister announced there would be a "reset" of the Pensions Dashboard Programme in early March.
In a statement issued on 2 March, Trott said the dashboard project was a "significant undertaking", and said additional time was needed to deliver the complex digital architecture by the connection deadlines.
