A petition urging the government to provide consumers with a pensions dashboard can gained more than 125,000 signatures.
The petition was launched last month (19 July) on 38Degrees following the rumours that secretary of state Esther McVey was in favour of scrapping the dashboard, saying that the service should not be provided by the state.
The dashboard, originally proposed by ex-chancellor George Osborne, is due to be launched in 2019 and aims to allow savers to see all of their retirement pots in one place, to help them plan for their retirement.
The government previously decided that the pensions industry should be in charge of creating the dashboard and the Department for Work and Pensions has taken on responsibility for the scheme.
Anthony Rafferty, managing director of Origo, said: "The petition launched by 38 Degrees in response to media reports that the dashboard might not go ahead has passed 100,000 signatures, showing the depth of feeling and the support that the initiative has in the country.
The pension dashboard is a superb opportunity for government and the industry to provide a simple way for UK pension holders in the country to track their pensions. Anthony Rafferty“The benefits of the pensions dashboard are easily seen and have clearly struck a chord with people.
"We at Origo have been passionate supporters of the dashboard since the initiative was launched, believing it is essential to help individuals engage with their retirement planning, particularly in the new pensions environment which was ushered in with the pensions freedoms.”
The pensions industry has been criticised previously by Baroness Ros Altmann who said that it was guilty of unfairly passing on the responsibility of the dashboard project to the government.
Origo has tested out its own dashboard technology to find out if it can withstand customer usage patterns and whether the technology can cope with the volume of customers.
“As more people become pension holders through auto enrollment, and as they move through their careers, potentially having 11 employers or more during their working lives, there is a greater need for a means for people to keep track of all their pensions in one place,” Mr Rafferty added.
“As the industry’s FinTech, we have been both committed to and heavily involved in working on the technology to make the dashboard a reality.
"We recently tested the technology we have developed to 15m users. It is ready to be implemented to one or more consumer-facing dashboards and to provide delegated authority so individuals can consent to allow their financial planner access to their information.”
The 100,000 signatures came before the DWP’s Feasibility Study which is expected to be published later this year.
“We believe the pension dashboard is a superb opportunity for government and the industry to provide a simple way for UK pension holders in the country to track their pensions, understand their value and what that means for their future and where appropriate, to act on their data in their best interests,” Mr Rafferty added.
rosie.quigley@ft.com
