"Harnessing the power of technology to give people easier access to their information will help them be more informed when planning their retirement"
The Pensions Dashboard prototype project, managed by the Association of British Insurers on behalf of HM Treasury, has co-ordinated the efforts of around 80 people from seventeen pension firms and six technology companies, with input from Government, regulators and independent industry experts.
Together they have designed and developed the behind-the-scenes technology which could eventually allow people to find all of the pension savings belonging to them among over 60 million different pension pots, administered by thousands of different schemes and pension providers, along with the State Pension.
The Government’s objective is for the service to be available to consumers by 2019, and for it to be offered by a range of different providers rather than by a single, central service.
Yvonne Braun, ABI Director of Long-term Savings and Protection Policy, said: “It sounds obvious that in 2017 everyone should have easy online access to all their pension information in one single place of their choice – yet the practicalities of making that happen are very complex. The prototype demonstrates once and for all that the technological hurdles can be overcome.
“Giving people access to clear information about all their pensions has the potential to revolutionise how they think about saving for their retirement. Now we must ensure industry, Government and regulators continue this close collaboration so the excellent work done so far can be developed into a valuable service the public can use by the Government’s target of 2019.”
Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Simon Kirby, added: “Pensions dashboards will allow consumers to more easily see all their pension information in one place for the first time and I’m delighted with the prototype system the industry has created.
“Harnessing the power of technology to give people easier access to their information will help them be more informed when planning their retirement – one of the most important financial decisions in a person’s life.
“I look forward to unveiling the prototype to the public for the first time at Britain’s FinTech week on 12th April.”
