ARE PENSIONS DASHBOARDS WORTH THE WAIT?

May 2023

Pensions dashboards aim to revolutionise pensions engagement by creating a digital home to view your pensions savings in one place.

Pensions is a topic that, for most people in the UK, can feel confusing and overwhelming.¹ The average person in the UK has 11 jobs over their lifetime, which often results in multiple pension pots with different providers. Although 73% of adults have multiple pensions,² we found that almost half (46%) of pension holders have no idea how many pension pots they have.³ And losing just one pension pot means that savers could be worse off in retirement.
 

Why do we need pensions dashboards?

Making pensions easy to view through new technology can transform people’s relationships with their pension. We've seen this first-hand, through our unique Single Customer View functionality, where people automatically view their Scottish Widows’ pension alongside their Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland accounts up to 15.5 million times per week. The wonder of this is the thousands of people who have found lost pensions without even looking for them, through a single digital identifier across Lloyds Banking Group that made their pension appear next to their bank account. 

Pensions dashboards can take this even further, by providing clear, simple and secure information about every type of pension in one place – crucially including your individual State Pension.

This is no small feat, and when they do land, pensions dashboards will be transformational in increasing pensions awareness, as 60% of people believe pensions dashboards will support deeper understanding of their pensions.¹ Pensions dashboards can help support better planning for retirement – ultimately improving financial wellbeing. They have the ability to transform people’s relationships with their pension, and help you start to think about consolidating pension pots, whilst choosing the most relevant product for you. They may also prompt an uptake in seeking advice to ensure financial security in retirement.
 

Steps you can take now

Although the framework for dashboards will remain unchanged, the programme is being reset and the timeline revised. The solution is complex, and while it would be great to reap the benefits of dashboards sooner, it’s worth the wait to ensure they fulfil their potential and work for pension savers. Trustees, pension providers and employers alike can concentrate on getting their data as accurate and up to date as possible. Trustees can also start to ensure they understand their obligations under the Pensions Dashboards Regulations 2022. 

Meanwhile, savers can also ensure their details are up to date to ensure they see all their pensions when dashboards go live. If you can remember the provider of your lost pension or your previous employer, call them and they can help you directly. Alternatively, members can contact the government pension tracing service who may also be able to help. Learn more about how to trace a lost pension.

Our Your Future Self tool allows you see what your future looks like, to help more effectively plan for retirement. Employers can also help by establishing a well-defined process to locate and re-engage with people to help reunite them with any lost pension pots. 

Once you’ve successfully tracked down your lost pension, you can make your pension easier to manage by thinking about consolidating your pension pots. Consolidating your pension pot is easy to do, and many pension providers will let you submit a transfer request online. Scottish Widows’ transfer request application takes an average of 6 minutes to complete in our mobile app. And we’ve facilitated transfers worth £2.7 billion since the launch of our digital journey. We’ve now embedded an authenticated Digital Transfer journey in our Scottish Widows app that will make this an even quicker and simpler process.  

We regularly hear from customers around how they’ve discovered a lost pension pot through it appearing alongside their bank account or even in their Scottish Widows app. It’s a delight when people find this forgotten pot of money – the dashboard will undoubtedly create a substantial impact as it helps reunite people with their lost pots. 

Notes to Editor

[1] According to research from ABI and Britain Thinks (PDF, 498KB), Pensions Dashboards Consumer Research.

[2] According to research from Aegon, People losing track of retirement savings shows signs of improvement.

[3] According to research from Scottish Widows (PDF, 244KB), Half of workplace pension holders don’t know how many pots they possess.