Reporting standards: what they are, what’s been updated and next steps

I am pleased that the Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) has published updated draft reporting standards for pension providers and schemes, following the releases of updated data standards, technical standards and the code of connection earlier this year. I would like to provide information about the reporting standards and what has been updated, and what this means for the programme as we look into 2025 and the start of wider industry connection to the dashboards ecosystem.

What reporting standards are

The reporting standards set out the requirements on pension providers and schemes for generating and recording operational information and reporting it to the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS). This supports oversight and management of the dashboards ecosystem and regulators’ functions relating to compliance monitoring and enforcement.

What’s been updated

On 19 November we published the updated draft reporting standards on the PDP website, replacing the previous version that was published in November 2022 after consulting with industry. Since then, we have undertaken further consultation with regulators and a review process with our cohort of industry volunteer participants connecting directly to the dashboards ecosystem. As ever I am very grateful for the careful consideration, valuable feedback and collaborative efforts by all parties.

Among the changes to reporting standards is a new 2-phase approach, with pension providers and schemes initially only being required to keep records from April 2025. An additional duty to routinely send data to MaPS will apply at a later date. Operational monitoring has also been removed. On top of this, reporting requirements for dashboards will be confirmed later.

The updated reporting standards are accompanied by a changelog detailing the updates made since the preview version. This is provided alongside a corrections log (errata), which will be updated with known issues and corrections for the current version. It is important that pension providers and schemes consult the changelog and corrections log together with the standards for a comprehensive understanding of the requirements on them and of the changes made.

Along with the reporting standards, we have published minor changes to the data standards and the code of connection and have produced updates to Find and View JSON schemas. We have also released a view data model, providing more information on how a view response is structured.

Along with the reporting standards, we have published minor changes to the data standards and the code of connection and have produced updates to Find and View JSON schemas. We have also released a view data model, providing more information on how a view response is structured.

Next steps

We do not expect to make significant changes to the reporting standards before seeking formal approval from the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with a view to publish the final standards in the first quarter of 2025. However, we may make minor corrections and clarifications, if necessary. We will also provide further full technical details for how providers and schemes will report data to MaPS, including open API specifications and JSON schemas.

After standards are first approved by the Secretary of State, any significant changes to foster the continuous development of standards will involve industry collaboration for valuable feedback and input, and to understand and minimise the impacts on industry.

As we move towards the end of 2024, I am happy to reflect on the consistent momentum of standards releases over the year. This is again thanks in large part to our partners across industry, government and regulators, with whom we have worked closely on refinement. Their efforts to help bring about an updated suite of standards put us in an excellent position to start the new year, in which we will see the first wider industry cohorts connecting to the dashboards ecosystem.