Connection forum: MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard

The MoneyHelper dashboard will be the Government-sponsored dashboard developed and run by the Money and Pensions Service.

Other third-party organisations may also develop and host their own dashboards. These ‘commercial’ dashboards will be introduced after the MoneyHelper dashboard has launched. 

All entities connect via a single central digital architecture (CDA) which PDP is responsible for delivering. So, schemes and providers only have to connect to the CDA.  

When we display the initial view results to a user, we have 3 categories in which we will group the pensions in. Partial/possible matches will be shown in the red category which denotes to the user that they will need to take some kind of action to resolve. When the user clicks on the pension that has been returned as a partial/possible match it will then provide further information to the user so that they are aware of the potential next steps to take, which include contacting the provider but may also include returning to the find journey to add further information to see if that may upgrade the match.

Estimates will be displayed in two places. We provide an overview of the user’s combined estimated retirement income (from the point all their pensions are expected to be in payment) in a written form and then show when the estimated income for each pension is expected to begin and how the combined total builds over time.

For each pension we will show all the income received for that particular pension, which includes their estimated income. Work is underway to optimise the display of these values. What we have built may change as we move into private beta testing.

See the MHPD slides from the Town Hall event for screenshots showing how this information is currently shown based on the latest MHPD design.

We are working closely with industry to explore how best to accommodate AVCs, multiplicity and linked pensions in the coming months.

We will show a message from DWP which alerts the user that they may have gaps in their National Insurance contribution record. The information shown to users is expected to align closely with how it is currently displayed on the check your State Pension service.

We are not currently planning to include provider logos on the MHPD. There are challenges implementing this and it has not been shown a strong user need.

The ability for a user to download their data (exporting to self) from the MoneyHelper dashboard is something we are planning to offer MHPD users. The build for this functionality is on our roadmap. This is likely to be introduced towards the end of 2025.

Initially, users will only be informed in their dashboard view of the need to return and given a timeframe in which the updated information should be available within. However, we are exploring the possibility of adding functionality during private beta which would allow us to do this at pre-defined intervals. It is worth noting, that as there is no ability for us to be notified when new information is available for the user to view, due to the nature of how the architecture works, any notification solution would not necessarily tie in directly with when updated information is available.

Initially, at the point we begin consumer testing at least, the MHPD will not be able to alert the user to the existence of a new pension being found that may not have been their when they last made a view request. We are planning to explore the need for this during the private beta test phase.

The MoneyHelper pensions dashboard will help people understand what money they will have available to them in retirement and direct them to wider guidance available on the MoneyHelper website for how they can boost their pension. Pensions dashboards will not be transactional and so our guidance around how they can increase their contributions will direct users to their pension providers and employers to take those actions.

MoneyHelper pensions dashboard is being designed with accessibility and inclusivity at its core. As part of our commitment to providing an accessible service, we will develop a support model which enables most users (regardless of access need or digital skill level) to use our dashboard and have help using it if required.

For people who don’t want or are unable to access the internet or a computer, it will still be possible to get guidance from MoneyHelper on how to get information about their pensions and how to find any pension pots they might have via the existing Pensions Tracing service, which is a non-digital service.

For those who have access to a computer and the internet but are struggling to use the dashboard, they will be able to access our helpline and someone can talk them through it over the phone.

We are cognisant of the need to ensure the MoneyHelper pensions dashboard is a safe and secure service. Appropriate warnings alerting users to potential to be scammed and steps they can take to keep safe, will be provided within the MoneyHelper pensions dashboard journey and within our wider guidance offering. As part of our development of the dashboard we are also considering the systems and processes we need to have in place to prevent scams and cloning of the dashboard. We will share more information about this as soon as we can.

Private beta testing is expected to begin in the summer of 2025.

It is too early to give a date for when the MoneyHelper pensions dashboard will be available for everyone to use. Progress will need to be monitored across a variety of areas to provide confidence that the service is safe, secure and operationally reliable, and delivers a good user experience.

The government remain committed to providing industry with sufficient notice before the MoneyHelper pensions dashboard is made available to the public, and will continue to engage with delivery partners on reporting progress to industry before issuing any notice.

We will begin a programme of end-to-end consumer testing in summer 2025. This phase is connecting real users to see at least some of their pensions data. This will allow us to further understand customer needs and how they will use the service in addition to addressing usability issues. The testing will be taking part in 2 phase. The first phase (from summer 2025) is moderated testing where users will be recruited from workplace pension staff schemes and research panel. The second phase (from autumn 2025) will include recruiting participants to a panel from schemes and providers. Further details about how your organisation can get involved in testing will be made available soon.

Consumer testing of the end-to-end service has not started. This will take place from the summer onwards. MaPs has carried out extensive user research to inform the design of the service. Testing with live data will enable us to test how the design should evolve in response to users seeing their own pensions information.

We intend to publish our baselined plan for private beta testing in the spring. We expect to test a range of behaviours and will work with industry to understand the actions users take having viewed the dashboard.

The Government’s priority is safe and effective connection and in line with that, the programme is carefully managing the connection of the volunteer participants to the pensions dashboards ecosystem.  

We are working to connect all VPs, including DWP State Pension and we are making good progress. All VPs have begun their connection journeys and are in varying stages of the process. 

The programme recognised in its latest progress update report that there remains some uncertainty whether all volunteer participants may complete their connection journeys before the end of April.

The programme will work with all volunteer participants to complete their connections at the earliest opportunity and all providers and schemes will be able to connect far in advance of the mandatory connection deadline of 31 October 2026. 

The regulators are committed to taking a pragmatic approach to compliance and are focussed on member outcomes. They will consider a range of factors before deciding whether to take regulatory action, including the nature and scale of the impact on members, and the number of members affected.   The ‘connect by’ dates are in guidance published by DWP, which providers and schemes must have regard to and maintain audit trails to evidence their steps to compliance. 

PDP are working closely with the regulators who are committed to taking a pragmatic approach to compliance and are focused on member outcomes. They will consider a range of factors before deciding whether to take regulatory action, including the nature and scale of the impact on members, and the number of members affected.

PDP will be publishing a DPIA for MAPS’s processing of personal data. This will concern the processing of personal data by MaPS in respect of running the CDA and associated services, and will not cover in any detail processing by schemes or connecting parties, who will need to complete their own DPIAs in respect of their processing.  

There will be governance steps to go through, but we are anticipating sometime in spring 2025. 

The first of our volunteer participant organisations (including ISPs) who are connecting directly to our central digital architecture are now into the final steps in the connection journey. 

It is this connection journey that includes the necessary tests of the ISP solution that must be completed successfully before they can add schemes for connection,  

The programme is working to connect all volunteer participants to complete their connections at the earliest opportunity.

We are considering plans for future releases of standards and will work with industry to understand the impacts and timelines for implementation.

The data standards (paragraph 48) set out how pension link should be used.

How the MoneyHelper dashboard will display pensions together where pension links are returned is subject to ongoing design and testing.