Legal & General is “well advanced” with the development of a commercial dashboard, building on the work done in the alpha and beta stages of the Pensions Dashboards Programme.
In late January, the government reaffirmed its commitment to both ‘find’ and ‘view’ functionality on the dashboards, despite industry criticism of the workload that entails.
Its draft regulations set out the data requirements in detail, though it acknowledged that the scale of the task could lead to incomplete information being provided at launch, and mooted the prospect of further delays to the onboarding of public sector schemes given the outstanding work on the McCloud remedy.
Tracing those pensions — as you would imagine — is time-consuming, and it is pretty challenging. So this is where the dashboards functionality really comes into its own and why it’s fundamental
Stuart Murphy, Legal & General
Beta testing is due to be carried out this autumn ahead of the first onboarding phase. Large schemes, with more than 1,000 members, will be introduced between April 2023 and September 2024, before medium schemes (100-999 members) will join between October 2024 and October 2025.
Small and micro schemes (with fewer than 99 members) do not have a specific date set, although the consultation stated it is likely to be from 2026.
Dashboards should be ‘more holistic’
The Pension Schemes Act 2021 allowed for the creation of commercial dashboards, and at a webinar on February 8, Stuart Murphy, co-head of defined contribution at Legal & General Investment Management, confirmed that L&G “will be building a commercial dashboard”.
“We’re well ahead on this already in terms of the tracing tools already in place, and other member tools,” he said.
“We’re excited, we think it’s a game-changer, and [of dashboards generally] we think the timings for when it goes live are probably sensible.”
He added, however, that more could be done to develop the overall dashboards offering, citing the absence of pension in payment, as well as drawdown and buyout, which is “one of the product types most likely to get lost by members”.
“I think, as we go forward, they need to be in scope in order to give people a more holistic view,” Murphy said.
“The ability to create commercial dashboards and have them adhere to the data standards is also significant, making sure that we have that consistency and the right standards. We are one of the seven providers that are committed to the alpha and beta stages of this. We’re already well-advanced in terms of building the functionality around the find requests that we’re going to get.”
L&G already has a pension tracing service, which, “without really rolling it out in earnest”, has had more than 10,000 members using it.
“What we’re finding from that experience, though, is that tracing those pensions — as you would imagine — is time-consuming, and it is pretty challenging. So this is where the dashboards functionality really comes into its own and why it’s fundamental.”
Commercial dashboards to ‘complement work’ of PDP
An L&G spokesperson told Pensions Expert that its commercial dashboard is designed to develop on its existing service, as well as the work done by the PDP.
“We have committed to building on this existing infrastructure to incorporate the government’s pensions dashboards, as well as other modelling tools, support and personalised guidance,” they said.
“We strongly believe that the more information members have about their pensions and the easier it is to access this information in one place, the better position they will be in to make decisions about their financial affairs.”
They explained that the purpose for launching is to find new ways “to capture people’s interest, such as moving towards personalised guidance to help fill the gap between advice and information, enabling consumers to make their own decisions with greater confidence”.
It is not, though, in competition with the PDP, as the L&G spokesperson said that the goal is to “complement the work that is already being done”.
“The draft regulations are clear that commercial dashboards must connect to the PDP and adhere to the same robust data requirements,” they said.
FCA says dashboards will increase advice ‘value for money’
On the go: The Financial Conduct Authority has said the pensions dashboards will increase competition in the advice profession and offer consumers better value for money.
Though commercial dashboards must all adhere to the same rules, the spokesperson reiterated that the PDP could “evolve further” to include data on buyouts, and other arrangements that “have a higher likelihood of being lost by members" — as well as pensions in payment “to ensure members see the full spectrum of their retirement savings”.
“We believe that the more informed members are about their pensions, the more likely they are to make the right decisions about their finances,” they added.
Asked when the L&G dashboard might launch, the spokesperson said: “We are participating in the alpha and beta stages of the government’s PDP and will follow that timeline. We are, however, already piloting guidance and coaching, within the current regulations, as part of our development.”
