Some 10m individuals could retire with £15,000 less if the pension dashboard isn’t created, new research showed.
This is according to analysis from 38 Degrees, a campaign group with 3m members, which launched a petition urging the government to deliver the project and which has been signed by more than 170,000 people.
In July it was reported secretary of state for work and pensions Esther McVey has moved to kill off the pension dashboard, saying the service should not be provided by the state.
But Lorna Greenwood, campaigns manager with 38 Degrees, said: "Two years ago the government promised to provide a website by 2019 that would help people keep track of their hard-earned pensions.
"They now need to honour that promise and deliver the pensions dashboard on time."
To calculate its figure of £15,000 in losses for savers, 38 Degrees looked at the government’s projections that there will be about 49.6m dormant or forgotten pension pots, worth £757bn, by 2050, if a dashboard isn’t created.
Dividing £757bn by 49.6m equals an average pension pot size of £15,200, which could potentially be overlooked when an individual retires.
The plan behind the pension dashboard, which is due to launch in 2019, was to create the technology to allow savers to see all of their retirement pots in one place at the same time, giving them a greater awareness of their assets and how to plan for their retirement.
It was originally proposed by former chancellor George Osborne but the government has said the industry should create it and responsibility for delivering the project has since moved to the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP).
In response to reports the pension dashboard was being killed off, a DWP spokesperson said the feasibility study, which was originally set to be published in March, was proceeding and that the reports amounted to no more than "speculation and rumour".
FTAdviser reported this week that September has been identified by some firms as the cut-off point by which the government must have published its feasibility study, or the dashboard may not launch in time to meet its deadline.
maria.espadinha@ft.com
