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Pensions Dashboards are coming and will centralise pension information, allowing individuals to manage their retirement savings in one place. However, to succeed, the initiative will need accurate data. In this article, we explore what Pensions Dashboards are, when they will launch, and how – if you work in pensions administration – you can act now to help prepare data.

Research suggests the average British worker will hold 9 jobs in their lifetime, and according to Money Marketing claims, an estimated 73% of people already have multiple pension pots, with 17% having lost track of one or more pensions. 

Furthermore, as individuals move home, change names, or have new personal circumstances – and forget to tell their pension provider – records can quickly fall out of date, compounding the problem of keeping track of individuals and their pensions.

If you work in pensions administration, the challenge of maintaining accurate customer (or member) data isn’t anything new. However, the forthcoming rollout of Pensions Dashboards does bring into focus the issue of how best to maintain member data and do it with the resources available within your team.

First, what are Pensions Dashboards?

By now, you’re likely familiar with Pensions Dashboards, but here’s a quick overview if not.

Pensions Dashboards will help individuals with multiple pension pots. 

An individual will sign into a single platform and view all their pensions and schemes in one place. The online pensions dashboard will securely display information centrally, clearly showing the person’s entitlement.  

It will include all private, defined benefit, defined contribution, retail or workplace pensions. Pensions Dashboards will also show any public sector and state pensions but will not include pensions already in payment.

Who is developing Pensions Dashboards?

The Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP), led by the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS), is responsible for designing and implementing pensions dashboards.

The initiative is supported by the UK Government, industry stakeholders, and financial regulators, focusing on developing the digital ecosystem that ensures data standards work for all parties.

The ecosystem will incorporate dashboards, functionality such as find and view interfaces from data providers, and digital architecture services.

How will pensions dashboards work?

As the Pensions Dashboards Programme explains:

“There is no central database within the ecosystem that holds personal information supplied by users or pensions information. Instead, the ecosystem functions like a giant switchboard, connecting users with their pensions via dashboards.”

In essence, users will navigate to the dashboard and submit a request to locate their pension information from providers.

The dashboard will conduct an identity check, and only once confirmed will it generate a unique identifier to give consent for a search. Following this search, the provider authorises the flow of information to the dashboard. 

At this point, pension details are sent to the dashboard for the user to see. 

Why do we need a pensions dashboard?

The vision of the PDP is simple:

“To enable individuals to access their pensions information online, securely and all in one place, thereby supporting better planning for retirement and growing financial wellbeing.”

— Chris Curry, Principal of the Pensions Dashboards Programme

Pensions dashboards will enable individuals to:

• Find schemes and reconnect with lost pension pots
• Understand the current value and estimated retirement income

Currently, people must contact pension tracing services if they have lost access to a pension pot.

Pensions Dashboards launch date

The timeline for the launch of Pensions Dashboards has changed. Following delays, the UK Government announced in 2023 that all in-scope schemes and providers must be connected to the Pensions Dashboards ecosystem and ready to respond to requests for pensions information by 31 October 2026 at the latest.

Development phases have included voluntary testing, and providers are now moving forward with the staged timetable for connection.

In Part 1: 30 April – 30 November 2025, large pension schemes and providers will connect to the ecosystem. Master trust schemes that provide money purchase benefits only to 20,000 or more members and FCA-regulated operators of a personal pension scheme, stakeholder pension scheme, a retirement annuity contract, a pension buy-out contract including a ‘section 32’ buy-out policy or an FSAVC being required to connect first by 30 April 2025.

In Part 2: 31 January – 30 September 2026, medium schemes and providers will connect to the ecosystem. Relevant occupational pension schemes with 750-999 members and FCA-regulated operators of a personal pension scheme, stakeholder pension scheme, a retirement annuity contract, a pension buy-out contract including a ‘section 32’ buy-out policy or an FSAVC with 4999 members or below, being required to connect first by 31 January 2026.

More details on the staged timetable for connection dates are available on The Pensions Regulator website, including a tool to help your scheme check your ‘connect by’ date.

What does this mean for pension providers?

Connectivity between your pension scheme/s IT systems and the Pensions Dashboards ecosystems is obviously critical but beyond the scope of this article. Here, what we consider is data preparedness, an essential task given the legal duties defining data required to match members.

The Pensions Dashboard Programme Data Standards give clear information on how you provide data, including the required type, length, and format, to help streamline connection.

If you’re in pensions administration, you will be aware, however, that to achieve successful matching will need accurate data. 

Preparing your member data for matching

Ensuring your data is of high quality is essential for accurately matching people with their pensions. Poor data integrity could result in incorrect matches with the wrong person or missing pension records, which may lead to enforcement action by regulatory bodies such as The Pensions Regulator or the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Key Considerations for Data Quality:

When reviewing your data, consider whether it is:

• Complete and Accurate – Ensure all necessary information is recorded and up to date.
• Digitally Searchable – Data should be in a format that can be easily retrieved for dashboard purposes.

Steps to Improve Data Reliability

To mitigate risks associated with poor data quality, take the following steps:

1. Audit Your Data – Work with your team to assess the suitability of your data.
2. Develop a Data Improvement Plan – Identify gaps and implement a strategy to enhance data completeness and digitisation.

Help with your Data Improvement Strategy

At Datagraphic, we’re helping pension service providers and occupational pension scheme administrators prepare data for Pensions Dashboards.

The Pensions Dashboards ecosystem will send schemes a ‘find request’ to try to match every verified potential member. The request could include a combination of data from fields such as first name, last name, date of birth, National Insurance number, previous names, addresses, email address/es, and mobile phone number/s.

Taking steps to get your data ready for these requests by auditing member contact data and filling any gaps is essential. However, don’t worry if your resources are in short supply or if you’d like to automate the process of updating members’ data; we can help.

Using Aceni, our outbound mail service, we create mailing campaigns, which automatically write to members asking to check their contact details. Mailings can include pre-populated forms and Business Reply Envelopes (BREs), making it easy for members to return correspondence. Plus, we can include QR codes and links to digital forms to encourage members to self-serve and update their information online.

For any replies received, Datagraphic’s Inbound Mail team can scan forms and automatically capture data for import into your line-of-business systems, removing timely and costly manual data entry. 

One client working in a pension team told us that pension information could become outdated within 3-4 years. For example, their records become incomplete as members move house, get married, or experience bereavement. ‘Gone away’ or returned replies to regular correspondence aren’t always updated as fast as possible which can cost the organisation wasted mail and administrative time to investigate or follow up.

To reduce and even eliminate this unnecessary expense, document automation can take the pain out of data cleansing.

Using automation to deliver automated communications

Using a trusted partner such as Datagraphic enables pensions teams to work with an organisation experienced in delivering outbound and inbound response campaigns.

Existing clients use our Aceni multichannel communications platform to send automated outbound mail, prompting customers to update personal details without additional resources. 

Once correspondence is received, inbound responses can be processed, consolidated and imported into their system.

No additional security checks are needed as Datagraphic is already certified with ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials Plus and fully complies with the GDPR. 

We already digitally present and print documents such as pension statements using the Epay online payroll portal, so adding projects to cleanse data is a simple process. 

If you want to learn more about how multichannel communications software can support integration with pensions dashboards, please don’t hesitate to contact us.