The Pensions Dashboard Programme (PDP), the long-awaited planned online location for pension saver’s retirement details, has appointed a programme director as it moves ahead with its plans.

The PDP team is growing, the group says, with recruitment of a senior leadership team.

Programme director Richard James; head of onboarding Paul Noone and head of technology James Reardon are all now in post. 

Over the next six months the government-supported PDP aims to reach a number of key milestones so that data providers can begin to prepare to connect to dashboards. 

Pensions Dashboard are a government-backed scheme to give pension savers all their pension information in one place to help improve retirement planning. They are planned to be available to pension savers from 2023 although no firm date has been set.

A Call for Input will be issued at the end of May, detailing proposals for the staged compulsory connection of pension providers to the dashboard ‘ecosystem.’ The proposals have been developed in collaboration with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and The Pensions Regulator. 

A specification document for suppliers will also be published. 

The digital architecture Invitation to Tender (ITT) has also now been issued and work has continued on developing an onboarding strategy for data providers for when the contract is awarded in September.

The full report can be viewed here:

https://www.pensionsdashboardsprogramme.org.uk/2021/05/13/pdp-progress-update-report-april-2021/

Chris Curry, principal of the Pensions Dashboards Programme at MAPS, said: “The programme remains on track against the indicative timeline that we published in our last progress update report in October.   

“Over the next six months we expect to award contracts for the majority of the digital architecture, and we will commence a Call for Input on staging at the end of May, which will take us into the next phase of the programme. With the expanded leadership team, we have the right people and processes in place to enable success.”

Minister for Pensions, Guy Opperman, said: “I am pleased with the significant steps that have been made by the Pensions Dashboards Programme. The next six months will bring a number of important milestones, including continuing the search for the digital architecture provider and Call for Input from industry which will allow interested parties to have their say.”