The process of creating a pensions dashboard will “100 per cent” speed up now the Pension Schemes Act has become law, according to pensions minister Guy Opperman.
Speaking at a press briefing this morning (February 12), Opperman said there were three reason why the Act would speed up the dashboard process.
The first is that secondary regulations can now be published as the first level of legislation has been pushed through.
Secondly, providers are now expected to get on board with the project.
Opperman said: “There have been some organisations [...] that said until [the government] passed primary legislation forcing them to provide their data they would not go to budgetary committees and spend money upgrading their data so that [the government] can then have it for dashboards.”
The providers were wary of spending money until they were certain dashboards were definitely going ahead.
Opperman added: “To be fair to them we started the Bill pre-election and then the election came so perfectly legitimately some companies were not as progressive as I would have liked them to be.”
But he said now the legislation had been passed, the government and the industry would work “a lot faster”.
According to Opperman, the industry will now focus on the next hurdles which are appointment and recruitment of the providers, agreeing data standards and “driving forward what is a complex piece of kit”.
He said: “[Dashboards are] probably the biggest piece of public sector infrastructure from a data point of view that the government has done in a long time. It makes a massive difference that the bill has passed.”
When asked whether we could see another Bill which would deal with other issues such as superfunds and the possible removal of the statutory right to transfer to stop scams, Opperman said it was unlikely to happen in the coming year.
He said: "I have to get permission from the prime minister, chief whip and leader of the house to put forward a bill in the next Queen’s Speech and I do not have a bill to put forward.
"This doesn’t mean to say that between May 2021 and May 2024 we will not have the opportunity to present a second bill and certainly there is a lot we are looking at with a view to doing."
He expects that the next Queen's Speech would happen in May.
TPR welcomes act
Meanwhile, The Pensions Regulator has welcomed the Pension Schemes Act, with chief executive Charles Counsell looking forward to the “strong package of measures” it provides and pledging guidance for how they will be used.
Counsell argued that through the new act, the regulator will build on its “clear, quick and tough approach to drive better standards across the pension schemes we regulate and ensure savers are treated fairly by employers”.
The legislation gives the regulator extensive new powers to act against employers and to gather information, which Counsell likewise welcomed, saying it gives TPR the power “to scrutinise how defined benefit pension schemes are funded and the actions that affect them”.
Counsell also said that TPR will “be clear in our expectations when talking to trustees, employers and others, and quick to take effective action where we have concerns”.
“We will continue to work closely with the industry and other stakeholders to produce the necessary codes and guidance to ensure the measures are introduced in an effective way,” he said.
“We are a risk-based and proportionate regulator and this measured approach will continue. Our work is driven and directed by the pursuit of our statutory objectives, and we use our powers where appropriate and reasonable to do so.”
amy.austin@ft.com
Additional reporting from Benjamin Mercer, reporter at FTAdviser's sister publication Pensions Expert
