Webinar: Progress update report and research findings for the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard

Chris Curry

Good morning everybody, and welcome to the webinar. We're just going to wait another 30 seconds or so for a few more people to join. The numbers of joiners are still going up. So please do wait for another 30 seconds or so and then we'll get started.

Okay, it's now one minute past and we have got over 300 people joining us, so I will make a start.

Good morning, everybody. My name is Chris Curry and I am the Industry Principal for the Pensions Dashboards Programme. I'll be your host for today and I'm delighted to see so many of you joining us, especially on this hot day and in the summer holidays.

I'm also going to be joined by Rebecca Fearnley, who is the Pensions Policy and Proposition Manager in the Money and Pensions Service. And Rebecca will be talking a little bit later about some of the research findings from the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard.

So the aim of today, as you can see from the first slide on the screen, is to give you an update on our progress update report and some of the research findings from the work that's been undertaken on the pensions dashboard.

We recently published our biannual update on progress and so we'll be covering a number of things today. But some of the highlights are that we've already successfully reached around 85% of pension records to make them available to pensions dashboards.

We've been updating the reporting standards as a result of our recent consultation on the implementation of the draft reporting standards. We'll give you an update on the progress on engaging industry in the process of making private sector dashboards possible and I think possibly the highlights of emerging findings and highlights from phase 2 user research testing.

Just some housekeeping before we get going, that we will be recording this session and we will be publishing the recording and the slide deck on the PDP website at some point after this event.

We are, as ever, very keen to get your questions today. If you do have any questions, please submit them into the Q&A tool. Please don't put them in the chat because we won't be able to pick them up. So please use the Q&A tool for any questions, and as ever, we'll try and get to as many of them as we can directly after the presentations. If there are any questions that we don't manage to get to or that might require a little bit of further consultation, we'll take them away and we will publish, subsequently publish a full set of questions and answers alongside the recording and the slides on the website.

So with that out of the way, I will now get started. If we could have the first slide, please.

Thank you. So I'd just like to start with an update on how we're getting on with connection to the pensions dashboards ecosystem. And since the last pensions dashboards progress update report, connection has really continued to proceed at pace.

We now have about 1,800 providers and schemes connected, alongside the State Pension, which is an increase from just under 1,500 since the publication of the last progress update report. We now have over 70 million records connected to the dashboard, which gives us at least 85% of all of the records that are in scope. And just a reminder, those in scope are those schemes and providers who have 100 or more relevant members.

But we will, as ever, continue to revisit this figure following the next round of connections as they go through. We're reaching, coming towards the end of month deadlines for connection as we get very close to that 31 October deadline.

We should also say that all 19 of those organisations that set out on the journey with us just over 18 months ago are now connected. So there's been a great amount of progress there and a great amount of effort to make sure that they're all in place and loading schemes into the ecosystem.

And overall, we are definitely on course for the connection deadline of 31 October 2026. Everybody who needs to will have had an opportunity to connect and we are certainly tracking that very carefully to make sure that everybody will be able to connect by the time they meet that regulatory deadline.

Of course, that deadline is fast approaching. And if you move on to the next slide, you will see a still from a recently published ‘100 days to the connection deadline’ video message that features our CEO, Oliver Morley.

We're not going to show the video today due to time constraints, but in the video, Oliver does reflect on the significant progress made so far. And I think just as importantly, reflects the collective effort from industry and partners to get us where we are today. We are very aware of how much work lots of people and organisations have put in to get us to the position we are today.

As well as that, he also highlights the key actions that providers and schemes should be taking, both before and after connection to support the successful delivery of pensions dashboards. And again, in the slides that are shared afterwards, the video will be embedded. So if you haven't been able to find it on the socials, you'll be able to click that link in the presentation when it's published on the website and then have a look at that as well.

Now, it's at this point of most presentations, if we can move on to the next slide, please, that I usually start to be a little more vague about what's going on, because this is the bit where we normally talk about the launch date. But since the last progress update report, we have actually been able to narrow down that date quite considerably.

So on current plans, we expect the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard to be available to the public in the financial year 2027-28. So that is between April 2027 and March 2028.

So we will provide a further update on launch plans around the time of that 31 October connection deadline, because by that stage, not only will we know a lot more about who's connected, we will also have significantly more user testing data available to us and some social research findings as well. So that will give us more of an indication of how ready we, the public and the industry are for that launch of the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard.

Of course, further engagement on the approach to launch and including any options which we think might mitigate the risk to industry, which are very much part of our planning, will take place with industry over the coming months. So please do watch this space. We'll be in touch with many of you over the coming months to work out the best way to involve industry in those launch plans as well going forward.

So although the launch refers to the launch of the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard, and that will be the first dashboard that's made available to the public, if we can move on to the next slide, I'll be able to update you on what's been going on with private sector dashboards as well.

Just to reiterate, the government remains wholly committed to enabling private sector dashboards to operate alongside the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard.

As we mentioned previously, we do think we're able to launch to the public sooner by focusing on MHPD, but that doesn't mean that we don't understand the significance of private sector dashboards going forward.

So earlier this year in the programme, we sought some ministry feedback on proposals for how to involve organisations in the development of private sector dashboards and particularly for the connection journey and the connection process in the same way that we have worked with those 19 other organisations to get the rest of the industry connected to get the data in place.

We had probably slightly more responses than we were expecting. It was overwhelmingly positive and the respondents did highlight the importance of collaboration and building on that successful industry participation model that we used during the connection of the providers and the schemes going at the start of the process.

So as a result of that, we're now establishing a private sector dashboards working group, which will bring together prospective dashboard operators and technology providers and help them and help us to build that connection journey going forward.

So the group will help shape future standards, look at the technical connection processes, and how we're going to develop a multi-dashboard ecosystem going forward. And we've already had some initial discussions with some of that group.

So while the current focus remains on testing and implementing the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard, considerable amounts of work are continuing to support the future development of private sector dashboards.

So turning briefly to reporting standards on the next slide, these are the last standards that we've been working on as part of the connection process and we have in the Money and Pensions Service a legislative responsibility for setting the standards to ensure that all connected organisations operate consistently and securely. And that, of course, is very important for anybody who's using the Pensions Dashboard to make sure that it's both consistent and secure.

So these particular reporting standards set out the information that pension providers and schemes must collect and share with us on the programme, because that helps support oversight of the ecosystem, and importantly, also enables the regulators to monitor compliance to the regulations around pensions dashboards.

So again, earlier this year on the programme, we consulted on updated reporting standards, building on the previous version that had been approved previously by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland.

And there are some key changes and one of the key proposed changes is in the introduction of daily reporting through an API system. So providing more timely operational data and supporting much more effective monitoring of the dashboards ecosystem, something again which we think is really important that we can then convey that to the users about how well the system is operating and how safe it is.

So that consultation has now closed and the outcome, there is an output that's been published on our website. And we're now currently working very closely with the directly connected organisations to implement automated daily reporting as soon as is practical. But in the interim, we are also expecting to request quite some further manual reporting. And again, we will be publishing details of that in due course as we work through those details with the organisations.

As ever in this space, industry engagement is really important to us and that industry collaboration that's been the hallmark of the programme so far continues to be vital. So we do all we can to engage regularly with industry to provide updates such as this on dashboards, share insights from testing and also to answer your questions. And that's why the Q&A part of the end of this session is just as important as the parts where we're talking to you as well.

So I'm sure many of you will have seen myself and others at a range of industry conferences, forums and roundtables, doing our best to keep the industry informed of the progress that we're making as delivery does go ahead. Then we've also seen people, so Oliver Morley has also been out and about talking at things like the Pensions Age Spring Conference and Professional Pensions Live.

And we're also looking to operate more exhibition stands where we give attendees the opportunity to see the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard video and learn how to get involved in consumer testing, which is also a very important part still of the work that's going ahead.

We continue to work very closely with other industry groups as well, especially the ABI working groups and the PASA working groups. And looking ahead, we really want to continue to build on these relationships as testing progresses and we continue, as I mentioned earlier, to develop the plans for private sector dashboards.

That was a very whistle-stop tour, I think in 10 minutes, of the progress update report, which you can also find on the website if you want to look at it in more detail. Do please feel free to go to the website and download that.

But I'm now going to hand over to my colleague, Rebecca, who's going to take you through some of the research findings from user testing. So Rebecca, over to you.

Rebecca Fearnley

Thanks very much, Chris. As Chris says, I'm Rebecca Fearnley and I'm a Pensions Policy and Proposition Manager working on the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard. And I'm going to give a brief overview of some of the emerging insights which are coming from the phase 2 of our user testing of the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard. If I could have the next slide, please.

So I'm going to briefly cover some key changes that have been made to the dashboard's functionality over the last 3 or 4 months. I'll give a brief update on some of the testing activity we've been doing during that time and outline some of the key things we've learned about user outcomes and user experience. And then I will briefly talk about what next steps are, particularly for the user testing.

So if I could have the next slide, please. I'll just, so before I start talking about the testing, just to give a little bit of guidance and put a couple of caveats in about how to interpret the data and what we're seeing.

So the first thing to say is the test sample has primarily been recruited and selected to meet testing needs. So we’ve been adapting the recruitment over time to reflect what's an evolving service and some changing and as the strategic research priorities for MaPS change. So although the demographic characteristics have been monitored throughout that testing period, it's not a nationally representative sample.

So we've been using what we call purposive sampling rather than aiming for statistical representativeness. So we're sort of looking for an agreed spread of participants across key user characteristics so we can kind of make sure we're testing specific things.

And the other thing to say is that a large proportion of the test sample was recruited with the help of pension providers and schemes, and we think this is likely to mean that participants have a higher than average level of engagement with their pension providers and schemes or products. So we feel that this could affect their usage behaviour and views about the dashboard. So that's just worth bearing in mind, I think.

So on the next slide, I'm just going to talk a little bit about service development and how the dashboard functionality has changed since we started this phase of testing, this phase 2. So in March, when testing started, we displayed 3 pension types, which was defined benefit, defined contribution, and the State Pension.

And over the period of the next 3 or 4 months, we now display all 7 types of pension. So that includes hybrid pensions, CDC (collective defined contribution), AVCs and cash balance. And we're also showing variations of some of these pension types. So for example, we can show the McCloud remedy, pensions affected by the McCloud remedy, which is quite a lot of public sector schemes. We can show cash balance, lump sum or income, and we can show defined benefit schemes with multiple tranches.

And there's a continuous process of tech iterating and building on user feedback, which we use to improve the dashboard experience and to enable more complete pension visibility for users, which I'll talk a bit about when I talk through the consumer testing.

So the next slide is just giving a little brief update on the process we've been through to get to where we are. So last year we started testing the dashboard when it was connected with some small scale internal testing and some industry experts.

And then we moved on to phase 1, which we updated you on earlier this year, which was low volume testing, which was the first time seeing kind of real people going through the dashboard with their own data.

And we're now in phase 2 of the testing, which primarily is concentrating on high volume testing, again with real users going through the dashboard, but this time in their own time and seeing their own data. Having said that, during phase 2, we're also continuing to use moderated testing to look at specific areas of the dashboard, and I'll talk a little bit more about that later.

So the next slide explains a little bit how the high volume testing works. So for the high volume testing, we recruit users to a panel and we then use that panel to select testers for each tranche of research.

As I explained earlier, most of the testers have been recruited through working with industry and partner organisations who've used them, asked their members, their employees and other audiences to sign up to the panel. And we would expect these users to have higher levels of engagement with pensions than average.

But we also have had some testers who've signed up via the MoneyHelper website where we've had a link up on particular pages for a while. So those people have been included in the testing as well, and we currently have over 12,000 testers who are signed up to the panel.

The testing started, the high volume unmoderated, started in March when we saw around 300 users go through in the first month. And the way it works is that users are sent a link, a secure link, when they're selected to take part in testing, and they're asked to complete a survey after they've been through the dashboard and they've been offered a small incentive to complete the survey.

The testing is being carried out in tranches. So once we've completed one tranche, we start the next one. And we've done currently carried out 4 tranches and each one has got progressively bigger numbers going through the dashboard. And so far, we've had more than 5,500 testers invited, and of these testers, around 65% have used their links.

In terms of demographics, we've seen slightly more women than men going through and most testers have been aged between 35 and 64, but aware that we were, we needed to target some younger users. We successfully did that and got more people coming through than any previous tranches aged 25 to 34.

And if we look at figures coming through from the Finder service, we can see that between March and June, we've registered over 11,000 pension matches for nearly 3,000 users. But what we are aware of and what we do know is that not all users who use their links complete the journey through the dashboard. So we are doing some work to build some consistent and accurate data to understand why this is.

We want to try and build a clearer picture of how users move through the journey. We want to understand where they drop out and what proportion are willing and able to get to the end of the journey and see their dashboard results.

So in terms of user outcomes, if I could have the next slide, please. So most users, we have a positive experience of using MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard, and we're seeing generally high levels of customer satisfaction and advocacy, with most people happy to recommend it.

And these quotes you see here are fairly typical of much of the feedback we're getting around user satisfaction. We can see, for example, that people are generally very happy when they find a lost or forgotten pension and they appreciate the ability to see all of their pensions together in one place rather than having to go to lots of different places.

We can also see that the vast majority of users choose to add their National Insurance number when they're prompted, and this enhances the likelihood that they'll get a definite match when they get to the dashboard. And figures from our central digital architecture show around 80% of pension matches are initially registered as definite, while 20% are possible.

So when users get onto the dashboard, their pension matches are shown in 3 channels. They may see ‘Confirmed pensions’, which are pensions where there is a definite match and the information is all displayed. They may see ‘Pending pensions’ – again, these are confirmed, these are definite matches, but it's where the provider needs more time to send the data through to the dashboard. And they may see ‘Pensions that need action’, and these are pensions that are a possible match, but the user needs to contact their provider to confirm some details before it can be confirmed one way or the other.

And between March and June, we can see that for visits that reached the pensions results page with at least 1 pension in each channel, 92% had a confirmed pension, 37% had a pending pension, and 31% had a pension that needs action.

So in terms of user outcomes, if I can have the next slide, please. In the early tranches, we were seeing some issues which highlighted that some people had questions and were a bit confused by the pensions they saw in the ‘Pensions that need action’ channel, and they were unsure about what they should need to do, what they should do next.

So based on this feedback, we made several design improvements, aiming to give people clearer instructions about next steps and a clearer explanation of what to do when they were contacting their provider. We hoped that this would reduce the scope for user misinterpretation and also anxiety arising from the uncertainty of seeing the colour red.

And so using this feedback, we changed the design of the page, the ‘Pensions found’ page, and we removed the previous system where the 3 channels were shown as green, amber and red.

So subsequent testing, including some moderated sessions, suggests that these changes have made a difference and we've had a reduction in users who've got questions or who are saying they're confused or anxious. The feedback indicates that users now are a bit clearer about what to do, although there are some questions which remain about why a pension is showing in the ‘Pensions that need action’ channel. But it's worth bearing in mind that these are very low volumes we're talking about. So we will continue to monitor this and iterate on the design as necessary.

So we also ask users in the exit survey about what they intend to do next and set out here some of the most intended next step actions. So the most common is people who say they don't really plan to do anything and quite a few people also say they plan to monitor and review it at this stage. But we also get quite a few people saying they're going to contact their provider. Some people also say they're going to think about consolidating their pensions and also think about their retirement planning.

Of the users who tell us they want to contact their providers, there are various reasons for this, but the most common is to follow up where they've seen a pension that needs action. Some people tell us they're also going to inquire about a missing pension, they might want to update their personal details, or they may want to get a more up-to-date valuation.

And of course, throughout testing, we've been making design improvements and iteration to the dashboard based on what people are telling us. I've already talked about the ‘Pensions that need action’ page and the changes we've made to ‘Found pensions’. But some of the other changes we've put in, we've introduced a home button to help with navigation after some users told us they weren't finding it straightforward to move around the dashboard.

And we also moved the start button to a more prominent position and put some context in around how long users can expect it to take. And we also had some feedback that users didn't really understand the valuation date and how it was calculated. So we've renamed that to ‘Calculation date’ and added some additional information about how it is calculated, and we're going to continue to monitor and iterate that based on any further feedback we get about valuation dates.

So I thought I'd also just talk briefly about our approach to moderated research, as I say, has been carrying on during phase 2. So if I could have the next slide, please. So in addition to the increasing volumes of unmoderated users through phase 2, we've also continued to use moderated research to explore more specific aspects of the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard service.

So we've used it to look in more detail at the ‘Pensions that need action’ page, the State Pension, some defined benefit pensions, as well as the 2 examples I'm showing here, which is the Welsh language service and our assisted digital, the needs of assisted digital users.

So unlike with unmoderated research, with moderated research, the user goes through the dashboard in the presence of a researcher, and they take notes of what's being said and what the person's doing, and they may ask specific questions and prompts at particular times.

So with the Welsh language service, we wanted to explore the relative user experience of somebody going through the Welsh version of the dashboard. And what the research broadly showed us is that the Welsh language content is very good, the service is working very well and although a few errors were noted, we were able to go ahead and fix those. It was interesting to note that whilst having a clear preference for the default language, participants would also switch the language view to check translations to support comprehension of technical terms and that this was something they were able to do within the dashboard.

For the assisted digital, we undertook the sessions in a local Citizens Advice Bureau office and the participants had a supporter on hand. And these were people who had told us they require assistance to interact with digital services.

So we found that for these participants, completing the journey with a professional supporter greatly increased their trust in the service. They were very trusting of the support staff and were very happy for them to see their data and to discuss their financial situation with them. And for these users, finding lost pensions really was very much a priority over and above things that we've seen in other areas such as financial planning.

So just to finish up on the next slide, I’ll just talk through a few next steps in terms of user testing and more broadly for MHPD. So we're currently undertaking some social research, which is a large piece of research with a nationally representative sample of users. And this will give us more insights into how users interact with the dashboard, and we'll also look at what users actually go on to do after they've been through the dashboard.

We're also planning the next phase of our moderated testing and that will see the numbers using a testing dashboard to continue to increase over the coming months. We also want to continue to use moderated sessions to test specific aspects of the service.

In terms of recruiting users for the testing, we're currently reviewing our processes because we want to make it easier for people to take part, and this is currently in planning, so we will share further information about what this is going to look like over the coming weeks.

We're also running a small pilot with several administrators, providers and directly connected organisations to see how we can make a self-serve approach for industry testing more readily available, and again, more updates on that as we have them.

We've got a team developing some onward journeys, so it's important that people who've used the dashboard have some clear guidance when they're looking to take next steps and we've got a team working on that quite specifically.

And we're looking at building and developing our customer support model. So using the queries that we're getting through the early phases of testing, we're using that to build our understanding of the type and volume of queries we'd like to see when MHPD is launched and we're using that to develop an appropriate customer support model.

And now I'm going to hand back to Chris, who'll make some closing comments, and then I think we're open to take some questions.

Chris Curry

Thanks very much, Rebecca. Excellent presentation there and some really, really interesting findings.

So we are about to go into questions. Please do continue to send in your questions and we will do our best to answer them on the call. Or as I said earlier, if we're not able to answer them on the call, we will post questions and answers alongside the recording of this webinar and copies of the slides on the PDP website.

Just also before we get into questions, kind of to put the testing into context, I think, there is a lot of information that we've been able to share with you today, and there will be more information available in the future. We're still at the relatively early stages of testing – there'll be a lot more testing to do and as we get further through those testings, we'll be able to share further information with you at separate points throughout the rest of the year.

So please do continue to keep in touch with us and we should be able to share more information with you about that as well.

But I have a couple of questions coming in. So the first one, I think they might actually both be for you, Rebecca, so far.

So a question has come in that says, I joined the expert industry test panel in April, but I've not been asked to test anything. Are you waiting maybe for the scheme to connect or is there another reason?

Rebecca Fearnley

Well, first to say thank you for joining the expert test panel. So I think as I sort of set out there, our priority over recent months has been testing with consumers, although we have been undertaking some priority testing with industry participants alongside this. And as I said in the presentation, we're currently piloting a self-serve approach to industry testing, which we do hope to make more widely available soon. We're working with several large providers, administrators and directly connecting organisations. So it really, I appreciate your patience on this, it really is a case of watch this space and we will share further information with those who've already signed up to the industry testing panel and on the PDP website in due course as soon as we have something available.

Chris Curry

Brilliant. Thanks very much, Rebecca. We've also had a question in that refers to adequacy or perhaps inadequacy. So the question starts, the Pensions Commission tells us that 15 million, growing to 19 million, people will see an inadequate total estimated retirement income on the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard.

So how are consumer testers of different types reacting when they see their own inadequate or adequate total estimated retirement income? Is that something that you can come back on, Rebecca, please?

Rebecca Fearnley

Yeah, I can come back on that to some extent. So I think our priority objectives up to this point of testing have been really to assess whether users can find and understand their pensions information and get further support where they need it, which will help us as we begin to assess how well the intended policy outcomes for pension dashboards are met and any associated risk with those.

I think it's still quite early to share any findings from our research on specific areas such as user reactions to the total estimated income, retirement income, but exploring this and specifically looking at areas around user comprehension, understanding behaviours are a key element of our research now and particularly as we move forward and we will share findings on this in due course so that we feel we've got something that we can we can share and that's helpful.

Chris Curry

Yeah, thanks for that, Rebecca. That's really helpful. And I'm sure some of the social research we're doing might look at some of those issues as well. So that's on a slightly longer time scale than some of the user testing, but it's going to be really important information to feed in to that information which we use to determine whether we think we're ready for launch yet.

So I think I'll take the next question, which is, will we be attending the Pension Managers Conference and/or the Local Government Pensions Scheme Governance Conference this year or next year?

I must admit I haven't been able to keep track of the invitations that we received so far. We do get a lot and we are delighted to receive all of them and we will do as many of them as we can.

So I can't be entirely certain whether we've had an invite to those specific conferences, but if anyone on the call is able to extend those invitations, we'd be very happy to come along and speak at those or any other external events where it would be helpful to have an update on either the connection or the testing side or any other aspect of pensions dashboards going forwards.

Please do contact us via the support section on the PDP website if you'd like any speakers to come along or for us to attend your events going forward.

So another question has come in that asks, will schemes or administrators be able to log on as if they were a member to see what their members will actually see just for their own scheme, not other schemes, to check that their scheme data is showing as expected and to be best prepared to deal with queries that members may have about what they see. Rebecca, is that one that you can comment on?

Rebecca Fearnley

Yeah, I can give that a shot. So I don't think that this is possible, given that the way the system is designed, the ecosystem, it needs users to verify their own identity in order to investigate a find and then what's shown on the view. So I don't think it's possible, it won't be possible for schemes or administrators to see that data.

But our current phase of testing is supporting us to work with DCOs, with directly connecting organisations to remedy issues as they're identified by test users. So hopefully that will address some of the concerns or issues that lie behind that question.

Chris Curry

Yeah, really good, really good point, Rebecca. Thanks for that. And I know that it's one that is being actively considered, isn't it, as to how we can help those schemes or administrators be able to get more information on what's there.

But there is this challenge, which it probably would be worth me mentioning as well. It's not just in this testing phase, but also thinking about other potential uses of pensions dashboards for things like delegated access or looking for pensions for people who have passed away, all these kinds of things with the current setup, which is dependent so much on the individual digital identity verification. It would require different amounts of work for us to be able to do that. So we do have the constraints within the system we currently have, but we're looking at all the different options about how that might change going further forward.

So more questions coming in, which is great. One here specifically about the public sector and McCloud pensions. So maybe this is one for you, Rebecca. It says, do you show the pre and post effects of transitional protection? Presumably, that's the impact of the remedy, I think that means, on the dashboard.

Rebecca Fearnley

So yeah, if by transitional protections this does mean the impact of the remedy, then yes, the answer is that dashboards will show users both sets of values, so both with and without the remedy. So it will show the legacy and the alternative benefits for anybody who's impacted by McCloud and for whom that is relevant.

Chris Curry

Yeah, I've seen some of those screens and they look very good. And I think they're modelled on best practice that we can find, I think, on other portals as well. So, so that's really, really helpful. Okay, more unfortunately for you, Rebecca, I think they're more interested in MHPD today. So what's the latest on the promised MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard data download or export feature?

Rebecca Fearnley

So this is a feature that we're actively exploring at the moment. It's not currently enabled, but it's very definitely under consideration currently. We don't anticipate that it's going to be available until at least the end of this year. And we're looking, we're very much looking, we're doing some work at the moment looking at user feedback, trying to decide whether it's something for which there actually is a demand and if so, how that might be implemented.

So we're currently in discovery to test these user needs, which will help us shape whatever any solution we put in place looks like. So we're asking, as part of this, we're asking users to complete a short survey, those people who go through the dashboard, to tell us whether they would use download or export and if so, for what.

And we've also put a download link on the dashboard to understand user demand. So it's kind of a false door, there isn't any facility for download at the moment, but it will help us to understand how many people click on it and therefore get us some insight into whether or not it's something people need and coupled with the survey, the questions we're asking people, hopefully that will give us some insights into whether it's something people need and if so, what sort of functionality they need on that. So it's a bit of a watch this space on that one.

Chris Curry

Yeah, no, brilliant. Thanks very much for that, Rebecca. There are a couple of questions come in, which I think we can deal with relatively quickly. So one that asks, are Nest Pensions included within the pensions dashboard, and are under-25s going to be included in any testing, as getting these guys on board early might help ensure they have better provisions later in life.

So, very happy to confirm that Nest Pensions are included within the pensions dashboard. They are going to be a very important part of that going forward, and I think as Rebecca mentioned earlier, we are testing with under-25s already. We've been looking at that and we will continue to do so to make sure we get there.

There are a number of potential uses for pensions dashboards and helping people understand about the value of their provision, I think is certainly one of those that we're looking going further forward.

So another question that's just come in, which says, will you update the data design standards to include recommended or prescribed labels for data points? So taking on board comments around the valuation data label, for example. So, Rebecca, is that one that you are able to pick up?

Rebecca Fearnley

I can do my best. So we're considering how the best practice that's been developed both through the testing of MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard and from discussions that have been ongoing with members of the industry which have been very helpful can be shared, and that includes with potential operators of private sector dashboards.

And in terms of looking at the feedback we've had on the data and design standards, we'll be updating the standards, including around labels, taking into account comments on that as soon as we can.

Chris Curry

Yeah, no, definitely really important piece. And to tie that in with private sector dashboards is really important as well. So we've had a question which I think I might be able to answer about are we able to share the link to sign up to the consumer testing, please? And I'm sure we can share that link. So watch this space and we'll probably put something in the Q&A that goes up on the website alongside these slides when we get when we get further forward on there.

So another question about testing, but looking at the future. So are we able to share an update on the expected testing volumes for the remainder of 2026, and have customers over the age of 65 been involved in testing so far? So a couple of different questions for you there, Rebecca.

Rebecca Fearnley

So as I said in the presentation, we're currently finalising plans for user testing volumes over the remainder of this year and we will share more information on what that looks like shortly. But it's fair to say we are expecting to continue consumer testing in the low thousands per month over the coming few months.

And as I say, we're reviewing the signup process to make this more streamlined, so it's easier to get more people through and there's less, it’s fair to say there's a bit of friction in the process at the moment, so we're trying to make it more streamlined so we get more people through the whole process and using the links when they're sent them.

Once we know what this new process looks like, we will welcome industry support in recruiting users, because that's been really, really important as part of getting us to where we are now and will continue to be as we need to get more and more people through the service. So we'll update the information about how you can help with that in the next few months. Sorry, not next few months, the next few weeks, much quicker than that.

And the question about over-65s involved in testing so far, not huge numbers because most people won't see, if they’re over State Pension age won't, if they're already taking their pension, won't see. But there have been some users that age, but it's not a key target for us at the moment.

Chris Curry

Thanks, Rebecca. And yeah, I think definitely worth bearing in mind that at the moment, we're looking for people who will find pensions, and pensions already in payment are not within scope, so they won't be able to be seen on the dashboard, at the moment we do that.

So, one which I'll pick up on, I think, because I think I've been asked about this a number of times, but is it going to be caveated and made very clear that pensions dashboard is not a retirement planning tool and values are at different dates, particularly deferred final salary benefits, which are a current value and not an estimated retirement income figure.

And I think it is a really important part of the context in which pensions dashboards are used and why the words that are kind of written on the pensions dashboard are just as important as the numbers. So we currently do tell users this prior to showing them any data whatsoever to try and help them understand the context.

So we have had some feedback on this, as I think Rebecca mentioned in her presentation, around the clarity of the values, which we're going to continue to test and to make sure that changes, if any changes, are needed to ensure that it's clear and understandable for users. But it's a very important part, I think, of what we're looking at as we go through the testing, something that we will continue to do, to look at, as we as we go through.

So I think probably the last question that we'll have time for, it says it would be interesting to understand why providing a National Insurance number is not mandatory. It says it's fairly easy for users to obtain and given it's the only unique identifier, it would seem essential for giving the best chance of a full match.

And again, this is one that I'm happy to take because it's a question which comes up a lot and has done over the past few years. So one of the key reasons why it's not compulsory, apart from the fact that it's not used in the digital identity verification, so it is an additional piece of information that we ask people, we need to ask people to put in, is we want to ensure that dashboards are accessible to as many users as possible.

And so that includes those who don't have access to their National Insurance number. We don't want people who can't find or access their National Insurance number to be, for it to be a barrier to them actually using the service.

We are doing what we can to strongly encourage the use of the National Insurance number, and I think there is a ‘Find your NINO’ tool, which we are linking to as part of that as well, which is doing the best we can, I think, to get as many National Insurance numbers through to facilitate that matching, although we do have to bear in mind that NINO is not infallible either. We know that sometimes they can be duplicated and sometimes people have more than one.

But as we have already shared earlier, I think as Rebecca mentioned, the vast majority of users are using the National Insurance number. And again, that's something that we want to try and build on as we go forward that will continue, I think, with the testing as we go further forward.

I think, yeah, we're coming towards the close, we've got 2 minutes to the end. And I think there's a few things I need to wrap up with.

So, if you have submitted questions and we haven't been able to get to them, apologies for not being able to answer them in this session, but please do come back and look and we will notify everyone when the Q&A has been posted up on the website alongside, as I mentioned, the recording of this presentation and the slides with the clickable link to the socials about ‘100 days to the deadline’.

Before we do close, I would like to say a massive thank you to you all on this call for joining us today, but also for your ongoing support to get us to where we are today. As I mentioned, this has been a very collaborative effort, not just across government, but with industry as well.

So thank you very much for all your help and support and thank you in advance for your continued support as well, because we are still underway. As we move into a new phase of testing, we are very keen to keep working with you, our wider stakeholders and partners.

If you are interested in supporting the next phase of testing, especially recruiting user testers, please do drop an email to the SupportPDP mailbox and we'll be able to update you with plans for the next phase and how you can help with that.

In addition, you can always get in touch with the programme via the support page on the website if you wish to raise a query and you can also look at and consult our range of articles, videos and reports that we publish on a regular basis which can sometimes answer some of those frequently asked questions that we have as well. Please do follow us on social media and sign up to the newsletter to receive the latest updates via email.

Thank you very much for listening. Thank you very much to Rebecca. I think she did an excellent job of presenting and answering the vast majority of the questions as well. So thank you very much for that.

Thank you for listening and enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you.