"Even the suggestion that the work and pensions secretary could pull the plug on the pension dashboard project is extremely disappointing."
According to The Times, Esther McVey, who became secretary of state for work and pensions in January, "has moved to kill off the project" as she does not believe the service should be provided by the state.
Pensions minister Guy Opperman announced in October 2017 that the Pensions Dashboard will go ahead and that DWP will be the 'lead department' during the development and roll out.
The news has been met with strong criticism from the pensions industry.
Huw Evans, director general of the ABI, said: “It is vital the Government stands by its promises on the pension dashboard. To abandon it would be a huge let down to millions of savers, leaving them unable to find the money they have saved and even exposing them to fraud. This is an initiative with cross-party support, backed by consumer groups, which is a win-win for everyone. The pensions industry is committed to helping but we need Government involvement to ensure the system works fairly for everyone.”
Helen Morrissey, pension specialist at Royal London, commented: “Even the suggestion that the work and pensions secretary could pull the plug on the pension dashboard project is extremely disappointing. The dashboard has the ability to boost engagement with retirement planning and to abandon the project now risks letting down millions of savers. What is all the more puzzling is that this is a policy that has received support from Treasury while pensions minister Guy Opperman has repeatedly said the dashboard will happen and urged the industry to back the project. We would urge him to do all he can to persuade the work and pensions secretary to continue with this important policy.”
Kate Smith, head of pensions at Aegon, added: "Ditching the dashboard at this point makes little sense and will ultimately make people’s retirement planning harder. Auto-enrolment means that every job comes with a pension and keeping track of multiple pensions has proved difficult for many people. Having a single source of pensions data, that tells people what they can expect from both the state and their private pensions should significantly boost people’s engagement and lead to better decision making, and less reliance on the State.
“The pension industry stands ready to go ahead with the dashboard and constant delays and procrastination have been unhelpful in the extreme. There was never any intention for the government to fund this project, it was always going to be financed by the industry, the question was exactly how?
“First the HMT, then the DWP, had taken on the leadership role, and we hoped that the much-promised feasibility study would give an indication of the direction of travel and setting out the government’s expectations. We had always believed that there should be multiple dashboards, rather than a single dashboard provided by a government agency, such as the single public guidance body. This would overcome many of the Ministers’ concerns.
“With the government’s ban on cold calling delayed, this could prove to be yet another blow for the nation’s savers.”
