DWP faces questions over planned pension change for ’16 million people’

The Department for Work and Pensions is under fire over its plan to overhaul pensions for 16 million people. The DWP is facing questions about launching a new online dashboard so people can see their pension savings in one place.

The pensions dashboard requires private pension managers to connect their portfolios to the government’s integrated platform, but it is yet to be launched, plagued by delay after delay. The National Audit Office, which oversees spending, said in a report on the launch of the scoreboard that the total cost of the scheme is now estimated at £289m.

Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: “Delays in delivery due to capacity and digital capability gaps have pushed back the deadline for providers and pension schemes to connect to the PDP (pension dashboard programme) by a year, without a date in the present. established for citizens to benefit.

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“While progress has been made during the reset, the DWP and MaPS must continue to work closely to ensure the final stages of the PDP are delivered smoothly and the public can begin to access this important service.” Oliver Morley, CEO of MaPS, said: “This report reflects the hard work of a dedicated team to inject real momentum into the dashboard programme, with support from the Money and Pensions Service, the Department for Work and Pensions and the wider stakeholder community interested.

“We are making sustained progress by providing the information the industry needs to be able to connect and thus enable us to transform financial planning for generations to come.” Dame Meg Hillier, Chair of PAC said: “Clear and simple pensions dashboards would help people get their pensions right – preventing them from losing entitlements hidden in ‘lost pots’ and helping them plan for their future.

“I am disappointed that the pension dashboard program has been delayed by a lack of skilled resources and ineffective governance – problems we see time and time again in government. The Department for Work and Pensions must learn lessons from what happened with this scheme and strengthen the way it works with its independent bodies, including the Money and Pensions Service.”

A DWP spokesman said: “As the NAO recognises, the Pensions Dashboards program has made significant progress in delivering a service that will transform the way savers plan for their retirement. Actions taken by the DWP to reset the scheme to put it on track for successful delivery mean that testing of the connection will start from August 2024 ahead of wider integration of pension schemes and providers from April 2025.”