Advisers to get access to clients’ pension dashboards

The DWP this morning published a consultation on the draft rules, setting out what data should be included and how it should be displayed to people.  

As part of this the government confirmed advisers will be able to view their clients’ pensions via both government and commercial dashboards, which has been welcomed by the industry. 

But there are concerns about the slow implementation timetable, and not all products will not feature on the platforms.

Adviser access

The government has proposed that savers will be able to give regulated financial advisers, Money and Pension Service guidance specialists, and others considered by Maps to be appropriate, direct access to their pensions information so they can seek advice from an authorised person with relevant permissions. 

This move has been welcomed by advisers, with Tim Morris, IFA at Russell & Co, saying this will be one of the main benefits of the dashboard.

Morris said: “Making it easier for people to track down and keep track of their pensions is what it's all about. This includes those who work with advisers. It will save time and money so it is definitely worthwhile.”

However, only those holding the right permissions will be granted access. For example, they must have permission to advise on investments and pensions or be able to give pensions guidance. Pension transfer specialists will also be granted access.

The DWP stated: “Not all independent regulated financial advisors will have the correct permissions to offer pensions advice which is why we have specified that only those with this specific permission may be a delegate”. 

It is good that the government has heeded this message and that individuals will either be able to give an adviser ongoing access to their data or, at the very least, export their data on a one-off basis so that their adviser can see what pensions they have.Steve Webb

To protect savers, advisers will be put onto the governance register and will have to go through a consent and authorisation process to access an individual's dashboard. 

Savers will be able to remove advisers from seeing their dashboard at any time.

The DWP has also set out that savers will be able to export their data from the dashboard, making it easier for them to share it with their adviser.

Steve Webb, partner at LCP, said: “It is good that the government has heeded this message and that individuals will either be able to give an adviser ongoing access to their data or, at the very least, export their data on a one-off basis so that their adviser can see what pensions they have.  

“Although dashboard data will still be limited and advisers may have to make follow-up inquiries to get more detail, the dashboard should save advisers time and money in the basics of tracking down the pension holdings of their client."

Out of scope

But not all pensions will be shown on the dashboards. 

Benefits which are out of scope include pensions where a tax-free lump sum has been taken, and pots which have been annuitised or are in drawdown, including partial drawdown. 

Members who have taken uncrystallised funds pension lump sums payments but continue to be active or deferred members of the scheme remain in scope and would need to be provided with their accrued pension information, based on the remaining value of their pension, the DWP said.

It said its priority was to focus on benefits not yet in payment to support retirement planning but “pensioner members’ entitlements may be brought into scope in the future”.

The rules also outline what requirements must be met for a dashboards service to be a “qualifying pensions dashboard service” and what trustees and managers of occupational schemes need to do to be compliant with the regulations.

The Pension Regulator has been given powers to issue maximum penalties of £5,000 for an individual or £50,000 in other cases.

In his foreword, pension minister Guy Opperman, said: “We acknowledge that our proposals are ambitious and that making a success of pensions dashboards is a significant task for both government and industry. 

“But dashboards are an essential part of our plans to modernise the pensions industry and make it fit for the 21st century digital age. Dashboards will open huge opportunities to reunite individuals with lost pots and transform the way people think about and plan for their retirement.”

Timescales

But the dashboards will not be available any time soon. People may have to wait until 2026 to see all their pots in one place, the government said.

Under the proposed rules large schemes (1,000 members or more) will need to provide data to dashboards between April 2023 and September 2024.

Medium-sized schemes (100-999 members) will be brought in between October 2024 and October 2025 and small and micro schemes (99 members or less) are “expected from 2026”.

State pension details will be available from “day one”, the government said. 

By April 2025 it is expected that 99 per cent of memberships will be connected to the digital architecture and sharing members’ data.

Tom Selby, head of retirement policy at AJ Bell, said: “Anyone expecting dashboards to be launched immediately with bells and whistles attached might be disappointed by the relatively slow staging timetable outlined today.

“The government has understandably focused on getting the biggest schemes to comply first as this is where the majority of pensions are held. Once a ‘critical mass’ of schemes has been reached and prototypes have been fully tested, dashboards will then be made available to the public.”

Webb added: “Bringing together full pension data in one place is a mammoth task and ministers have repeatedly over-promised and under-delivered on this goal. Back in 2016 there was a promise of a dashboard in use by 2019, but now it looks as though the first generally accessible dashboard will not be available until mid 2024 – at least five years late.  

"The biggest headaches include bringing on the public service schemes, which have major headaches of their own to deal with, and defined benefit pension schemes where complex new calculations may be required.  

"It is vital that the government ensures there is no further slippage in this project and that the benefits of dashboards are available to the public as soon as possible”.

amy.austin@ft.com

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