A survey of 1,100 adults from research company Ipsos Mori, published yesterday (October 7), found many individuals lacked trust in the upcoming pension dashboards with many concerned privately owned businesses will use the initiative to sell their own products.
Pensions dashboards will ensure people throughout the UK have easy access to key information about what pensions they have, who manages them and what they are worth.
The government confirmed in December it will allow multiple pension dashboards to enter the market with the first one, developed by the government's free guidance service the Money and Pensions Service, originally expected to launch this year although it has faced delays due to Brexit.
Providers will be free to launch their own dashboards.
But Ipsos Mori found 42 per cent of savers were most likely to trust a government funded organisation to provide a dashboard, followed by a specialist company set up specifically to provide the dashboard (23 per cent) or a financial guidance organisation (23 per cent).
A mere 22 per cent said they would trust a dashboard set up by a private pension company.
Technology companies such as Apple or Google were least trusted to provide this service (2 per cent).
If the dashboard was run by a private company two thirds (65 per cent) of savers would be concerned about the security of their data, more than if it was government backed (47 per cent), Ipsos Mori found.
Other concerns were that private companies would use a dashboard to sell or advertise products to them (58 per cent).
Joanna Crossfield, associate director at Ipsos Mori, said: “There is a strong desire for a pensions dashboard to be government-backed, showing that public trust and confidence in the government to provide these services remains high.
“To encourage use, it will be important for any dashboard provider to give the public a cast iron guarantee about the safety of their information without compromising on ease of use. Presenting information in an easy to understand way will also be critical to success.
“People already find pensions complicated and overwhelming – a dashboard must help to address this rather than adding to it.”
The research, which was carried out in August, also found that one in eight young savers was concerned they will be unable to recover the details of all of their private or workplace pensions, as many claim to have lost the relevant paperwork.
Of the 13 per cent who said they were unable to find all the details of their pensions, a quarter claimed to have lost the paperwork for private pensions they have saved into.
A further 13 per cent said they had lost their online login details for their pension, while 11 per cent claimed they were not good with finances in general.
About 8 per cent of savers said they had no interest in their pensions.
Meanwhile, 25 per cent of those surveyed blamed changes in jobs and poor paper management for a lack of control over their pensions.
It has been suggested these savers would particularly benefit from the government's pensions dashboard project.
The survey found two thirds of people agreed that a pensions dashboard would make keeping track of their pensions easier, with 86 per cent of 18-34 year olds agreeing it would be a useful tool.
Last month (September 25), the Money and Pensions Service appointed ten industry specialists to lead the development and delivery of the impending pension dashboards.
The steering group was set up to work on the practicalities of establishing pension dashboards and making them available to the general public.
The group will also support the work of the Industry Delivery Group (IDG) which was established within Maps to develop the technology that will enable the dashboards.
The IDG will set out a timetable for other fully operational dashboards, as well as setting standards and ensuring security across the portals.
But the industry is still waiting for the Pensions Bill to pass through parliament so legislation for the pensions dashboard can be published.
In the Queen’s speech on October 14 the government will list the main bills to be introduced during the parliamentary session but it remains to be seen whether the Pensions Bill will make the cut.
The bill includes rules governing the pensions dashboard as well as measures to introduce increased powers for The Pensions Regulator and collective defined contribution schemes.
amy.austin@ft.com
What do you think about the issues raised by this story? Email us on fa.letters@ft.com to let us know.
