‘Revolutionary!’ Pensions dashboards could help Britons manage savings | Personal Finance | Finance

The Government recently published a consultation on draft regulations for the pensions dashboards, which will allow Britons to view all of their pensions in one place. Jon Greer, head of retirement policy at Quilter, spoke exclusively to Express.co.uk and explained the benefits and drawbacks of the dashboards, which could be up and running by April 2023.

How will dashboards help?

He said: “Pension dashboards will be a revolutionary innovation for pension savers, and should help promote engagement with pensions in the years ahead.

“While automatic enrolment has been a resounding success in boosting the number of people saving into a pension, it has left millions of people with multiple small pension pots.”

The Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) has estimated that deferred pension pots in Master Trust schemes could increase from eight million to as much as 27 million by 2035, he pointed out.

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“Pension dashboards are hoped to remedy this situation so people can easily see all their pension holdings in one place.”

Mr Greer added that once the technology develops, savers will not only be able to see their pension savings, but will also be able to do something about them, including consolidating smaller pots.

He continued: “The Government’s announcement that dashboards will also be viewable by financial advisers, subject to the permission of the client, is a positive step forward.

“While the functionality of the dashboards will be limited initially, giving advisers access to their dashboards will save time and therefore money for clients.

He said: “Seeing your pension savings is all well and good, but you also have to know what to do with them.

“The majority of pension savers do not receive financial advice or pension guidance before accessing their pension for the first time.

“This has to change. The Government has made a start by introducing the stronger nudge to pension guidance provided by Pension Wise, but the need for more people to take guidance needs to be reflected by the dashboards.

“The dashboard must help to nudge pension savers into taking guidance or advice to ensure they are making the most of their pension savings.”