As a keen supporter for multiple dashboards, Aegon welcomes these findings from TISA. Pension Dashboards will not only generate interest in pensions, they also have the potential to transform pension saving for consumers and advisers. Providing a clear view of all their pension pots at a glance, saves time and effort, and makes advice more affordable. Multiple dashboards pave the way for more development and advances in the technology used for keeping track of pensions.
A single dashboard offered by the public guidance body, carries the risk of standing still and not moving with the times in terms of development and meeting customer needs.
However, the only way to make the pension dashboard a reality is for the government to legislate. To make dashboards meaningful, all pension schemes and providers need to be compelled to provide information about scheme memberships and ideally real time information and up to date valuations.
There are pros and cons of partially populated dashboards. On the one hand, these will begin to get people interested in the concept.
On the other, they could create disillusionment if people lose faith when they can’t see all their pensions.
Without legislation or regulation there’s a real risk that the pension dashboard will stop in its tracks. While commercial providers could launch their own dashboards, if there are schemes ‘missing’, success would be limited. The dashboard would be underused and the whole concept could become discredited. While it’s great to see some progress with the ABI’s plans for the pensions dashboard, the Government needs to support this initiative and ensure there is space in the legislative timetable this side of 2020.
TISA Pension Dashboard survey
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