The Government has restated its commitment to delivering pensions dashboards in a written statement.
Progress update report
December 2025
Pensions dashboards will help individuals view their pensions information online, securely and all in one place, thereby supporting better planning for retirement and growing financial wellbeing.
Foreword
The latest pensions dashboards progress update report from the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) comes at a time of significant activity to bring us closer to dashboards being a reality. The Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP), overseen by MaPS, has facilitated the connection of hundreds of pension providers and schemes to the dashboards ecosystem, bringing us to 60 million, or three-quarters, of workplace and personal pension records being connected. This is alongside millions of State Pension records.
Work continues on the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard, being developed by MaPS. Industry expert testing has been conducted, where I was fortunate enough to be among the first to test the MoneyHelper dashboard with my own live pension data. MaPS has now entered the first phase of consumer testing. This report provides further detail on testing plans and how they are progressing.
At the pensions dashboards town hall event hosted by MaPS in July 2025, the Minister for Pensions emphasised the government’s commitment to enabling additional pensions dashboards alongside the MoneyHelper dashboard. PDP has been engaging with the pensions industry on the groundwork needed to facilitate private sector dashboards. More information is set out below.
The report also contains updates from our partner organisations – the Department for Work and Pensions, The Pensions Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority – as well as our Pensions Dashboards Advisory Group. As ever, MaPS is grateful for the constructive spirit shown by everyone involved in pensions dashboards. Our progress to date is a testament to the commitment shown across the board.
Chris Curry
Principal of the Pensions Dashboards Programme
Connection
Under the Pensions Dashboards Regulations 2022 and requirements in the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Handbook, pension providers and schemes in scope of legislation are required to connect to the pensions dashboards ecosystem by 31 October 2026. With less than a year to go to this deadline, connection activity is moving forward at a steady pace with 75 percent of workplace and personal pension records in scope having connected. The Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) is confident that connection remains on course.
The Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) has been working closely with a group of around 20 industry participants and the State Pension. These organisations are all undertaking direct connection to the pensions dashboards ecosystem and a number are connecting other pension providers and schemes, or their administrators.
The first participant connected in March 2025. Since then, 17 participants in total have completed the connection process, with 19 having passed the important step of integration testing.
In March 2024, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) published guidance with a timetable for pension providers and schemes to undertake connection. While this timeline is not mandatory, The Pensions Regulator (TPR) and the FCA expect providers and schemes to demonstrate they have had regard to the guidance when deciding their connection date.
On 17 April 2025, the first pension provider finalised connection to the ecosystem ahead of the first ‘connect by’ date in guidance. As of December 2025, 700 pension providers and schemes have completed connection, representing over 60 million workplace and personal pension records. In addition, the State Pension has now connected, adding tens of millions of State Pension records.
Consumer testing of the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard
Testing of the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard is crucial to demonstrate that the end-to-end user experience of the service is positive, safe and that the service meets users’ needs. User research and testing with prototypes has already informed, and will continue to inform, the ongoing design and development of the dashboards service and provide assurance that standards are fit for purpose. Consumer testing is now under way and will scale up over time.
MaPS began controlled testing of the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard with a small number of industry experts in August. Alongside internal MaPS user testing, this will ensure the flow of data appears correctly on the dashboard as part of consumer testing. This is in line with feedback MaPS received from industry and will support ongoing collaboration to ensure a positive user experience.
As outlined in the consumer testing approach published on the PDP website, consumer testing will take place over two phases:
- The first phase, which is ongoing, includes moderated testing with a small amount of unmoderated testing, recruiting users who include workplace pension scheme staff members, research panel members, users of assistive technology and those with access needs.
- The second phase will begin once MaPS has successfully completed the first phase, and will be predominantly comprised of unmoderated testing with some continuation of moderated testing and other methods too. Participants will be recruited to a panel from customer bases of pension providers and schemes as well as other places such as employers, charities and specialist recruiters.
The focus for this phase is on ensuring the service is working as expected and identifying any critical pain points that need to be resolved. It is also important to note that MaPS has focused so far on testing with users who have defined contribution pensions and with their State Pension also being returned.
The first phase of testing has now passed the halfway point, having successfully conducted the first two rounds of moderated consumer testing. During these first two rounds MaPS has observed a total of 24 users interacting with the service across a mix of gender, age, region and self-reported access needs.
Overall, the testing so far has been broadly positive, with users generally expressing good levels of satisfaction for the service and it meeting their expectations. Good levels of pensions being returned have been observed, the majority of which have been definite matches with the information returned as expected. This has meant that most were able to find some if not all the pensions they were expecting.
A small number of pending and possible matches were returned with users expressing some uncertainty about what this meant and what their next steps would be.
MaPS has received positive feedback on the design of the dashboard and generally high levels of trust in GOV.UK and MoneyHelper branding. However, it should be noted that users in these first two rounds had higher than average levels of pension knowledge, having been recruited from the pensions/finance industry.
A range of pain points and issues have been identified that MaPS is working to resolve both internally and in collaboration with data providers which vary in severity of impact. Planning, recruitment and execution of rounds 3 and 4 is well underway, and MaPS will soon start sharing insights from the testing more broadly.
MaPS is also working hard to enable and be in a position to test the other four remaining pension types. To that end, there has been close collaboration with various industry groups and organisations to better understand how the pension data might come through to us in various circumstances and, therefore, how the dashboard can best display that to users so that it conveys the right understanding of the information to them.
Private sector dashboards
In a written statement in October 2024, the government confirmed its commitment to delivering pensions dashboards and announced that the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard will be made available to the public before private sector dashboards.
The government has made clear it remains committed to the principle of private sector dashboards. Prioritising the MoneyHelper dashboard will enable better insights into customer behaviour, and ensure greater confidence in a range of areas before facilitating the connection of private sector dashboards. It also enables PDP to focus on connecting pension providers and schemes ahead of the connection deadline of 31 October 2026, which will inform the pathway for private sector dashboards.
PDP is working closely with potential dashboard providers, DWP and the regulators (the programme’s delivery partners) on a pathway for development and implementation of dashboards. An internal workshop has been held with delivery partners, and in February, two industry roundtables were held with potential private sector dashboard providers. The findings from these sessions helped to inform two pre-discovery sessions held in March. PDP has shared insights from those sessions with participants, and will be arranging future engagements in due course.
The date for when private sector dashboards will be available will be informed by factors including whether the service is safe, secure and reliable, monitored by DWP, MaPS and the regulators.
Engagement on pensions dashboards
MaPS regularly engages with industry throughout the year to provide regular updates on progress of the delivery of pensions dashboards, share insights and answer questions.
On 9 July 2025, the latest dashboards town hall was hosted by MaPS, at which the Minister for Pensions, Torsten Bell MP, announced DWP will give 6 months’ notice before the launch of the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard. Industry attendees heard a range of presentations from PDP, the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard team, TPR and the FCA.
Since the last progress update report, MaPS has attended a number of speaking events with industry. Chris Curry, PDP’s Principal, provided an overview of pensions dashboards and progress so far at the Pensions Age Northern Conference in Leeds in June. Also that month, Jackie Spencer, Senior Policy and Propositions Manager at MaPS, spoke at the Investment and Life Assurance Group (ILAG) Pensions Dashboards Conference to provide an update on the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard.
In September, Chris and Adam Gifford, Senior Policy and Propositions Manager, attended the Local Government Association (LGA) Firefighters Local Pension Board Annual General Meeting to speak about connection and to provide a demonstration of the MoneyHelper dashboard. Chris regularly attends training sessions with Firefighters Local Pension Board trustees to help them understand the obligations for dashboards.
In October, Chris joined representatives from industry at the Corporate Adviser Summit in Surrey to talk about how dashboards will improve digital engagement and how other solutions could interact with them. The following month, he attended the Pensions Expert Annual Conference and the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) Annual Employers Conference to explain plans for testing the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard and what lies ahead in the coming months.
MaPS continues to work closely with various industry-led groups, and will look to build on this over the coming months as insights are gathered from consumer testing. These groups include those led by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and the Pensions Administration Standards Association (PASA). The cohort of directly-connected industry participants continue to play an important role in helping to shape and improve the dashboards ecosystem.
Update from the Pensions Dashboards Advisory Group
Since the last progress update report, the Advisory Group has continued to provide insight from across industry sectors, with recent focus on connection and exploring how MaPS can promote and celebrate the success of increasing numbers of connected members more widely.
The opportunity to be included in industry testing and feedback from progress is welcomed and will significantly influence future industry plans in this area. The Advisory Group has been involved in plans for consumer testing to ensure that it covers different types of pensions, essential to assess comprehension, but recognised that the process would likely require multiple iterations. The group has been instrumental in raising industry’s concerns about the progress of testing, how to get involved in testing and the introduction of earlier testing by pensions experts which was added into the plan before consumer testing.
Advisory Group members have suggested a consumer protection plan be developed, particularly based on insights gained from testing, any unhappy paths, and less-than-ideal scenarios. The Advisory Group has welcomed the commitment from DWP to share a 6 months' notice period. Members are also keen to see any further detail on estimated timings of when DWP expects the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard to be made available to help clarify future industry timelines. The Advisory Group continues to press for firm commitment to private sector dashboards, although no further announcements are expected until after the MoneyHelper dashboard has gone live and had a chance to establish itself with savers. Getting the MoneyHelper dashboard live must be the first priority.
The Advisory Group held a workshop with PDP, MaPS and TPR in July looking at the future of pensions dashboards. It is widely accepted that the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard will be the only publicly available option for some time after launch. Advisory Group members feel strongly that the commercial aspects of pensions dashboards will add significantly to the saver experience, and principally the saver should be able to access all their pensions online typically in the place they go to today.
The Advisory Group considered 6 key areas of potential enhancements to the day one scenario and then took a poll across all members to then rank the features in priority order:
Ranking results demonstrated strong support for a degree of transactional capability with pensions dashboards. To date this feature is firmly outside the scope of the programme and even under the “new” FCA private sector pensions dashboard regulatory permissions.
The Advisory Group acknowledges that there could be some contention related to certain features and have tried to highlight this above using blue dots.
The exclusion of pensions in payment means that all versions of pensions dashboards will have limited use to those savers who have already started taking benefits. The Advisory Group believes this seems like a missed opportunity.
Facilitating delegated access by the saver also should be considered as a fast follower feature to enable savers to actively seek advice (with ease). On top of this, enhancing day 1 with additional data such as value for money (VFM) data should also be considered to help savers get a simple view of the quality of each found pension, side by side.
Throughout 2025, the Advisory Group has been keen to influence the future of private sector dashboards. Advisory Group members have participated in an industry workshop to explore opportunities and scope of private sector dashboards, and the future approach to engagement with industry. The Advisory Group sought assurance that the programme will re-examine the willingness of private sector dashboard providers across industry before the end of 2025.
The Advisory Group remains committed to ensuring that the voice of industry is included in all future plans and engagement approaches to dashboards.
Partner updates
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
The Government remains firmly committed to delivering pensions dashboards safely and securely, as do our delivery partners and the wider pensions industry.
The connection of the largest pension providers and schemes to the dashboards ecosystem, in line with DWP’s connection timetable, marks a significant milestone towards making pensions dashboards a reality for millions of savers. Around three quarters of records in scope of the Regulations are now integrated into the digital architecture, a testament to the hard work of our delivery partners and industry. We are also delighted that State Pension data is now accessible, adding tens of millions of additional records. We encourage the pensions industry to keep engaging with all available guidance and standards from DWP, MaPS and the regulators to ensure timely and successful connection. Connecting in line with the dates in DWP’s timetable set out in guidance, ahead of the mandatory connection deadline of 31 October 2026, will enable large-scale testing at pace. This will help ensure that the service is secure, operationally reliable, and provides a clear and positive experience for users.
Government welcomes the ongoing user testing of the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard. Insights from this testing will help inform the launch of the MoneyHelper dashboard and support preparations for the launch of private sector dashboard services.
The Government remains committed to delivering private sector dashboards following the launch of the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard. The pensions industry will be kept updated on developments relating to private sector dashboards and the products that potential private dashboard operators will need ahead of launching their services, so that they can plan effectively.
The Pensions Regulator (TPR)
Over the past six months, TPR has intensified its focus on data.
As part of this, they launched a campaign targeting medium schemes due to connect in 2026, reinforcing that high quality data is essential for dashboards readiness.
The regulator also completed the final phase of an outreach exercise aimed at schemes that reported low or no data quality scores in their scheme returns. TPR’s Market Oversight report, published in November, highlights encouraging progress - but also confirms that some schemes still have work to do to ensure their member data is fit for dashboards, with less than a year to go.
Further engagement is underway to scrutinise the data preparations of the UK's largest schemes. Trustees and scheme managers must be ready to demonstrate how they are maintaining member data in line with legal requirements and TPR expectations. Where necessary, formal interventions – including improvement notices – may follow.
To support industry in preparing their data for dashboards, TPR recently published revised scheme member data guidance. This consolidates all data-related guidance into one place, clearly setting out expectations and offering best practice examples to help schemes improve data quality.
Looking ahead to 2026, the focus on data will continue. Timely communications to all schemes in scope will be issued – to those approaching their connection date, those already connected (to highlight post-connections duties), and to those who have missed their connection deadline – setting out immediate actions to take.
TPR will also maintain their extensive engagement programme with those supporting pension schemes – including administrators, software providers and legal firms – to understand how the industry is preparing for dashboards and to support MaPS in sharing insights from user testing.
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)
Pension providers
FCA-regulated pension providers have continued connecting to the pensions dashboards ecosystem, with numbers growing as each additional integrated service provider (ISP) completes its connection.
Under DWP guidance, the next staging date for FCA-regulated providers is 31 January 2026. We anticipate a significant growth in connections at that stage.
All providers must be fully connected before 31 October 2026. For firms yet to connect, the FCA website provides further information, including details of how and when to request registration codes.
Connection is, however, only part of the story. The quality of firms’ underlying data is just as critical to the successful launch of dashboards. Firms that have not already, should be taking steps to ensure their data is ready and accurate for consumers to access via dashboards.
Private sector pensions dashboard operators
The FCA will continue to work closely with PDP, Government and industry as PDP’s roadmap is developed and progressed.