The report of the Director, West Yorkshire Pension Fund, (Document “N”) provides an update on the progress of the introduction of the Pensions Dashboard.

Recommended –

That the report be noted.

(Yunus Gajra – 01274 432343)

Resolved –

That the report be noted.

Action: Director,  West Yorkshire Pension Fund

The report of the Director, West Yorkshire Pension Fund (Document “N”) was submitted to the Pension Board to provide an update on the progress relating to the Pensions Dashboard.

In 2019, the Government established the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) to bring together the Money Advice Service, Pension Wise and Pensions Advisory Service.  These government backed bodies were created to raise awareness of pension options and regulations.  The Pensions Dashboard was launched in 2020 and was still in progress.

The aims of the Dashboard would be as follows:

·       Connect individualswith theirpension assetsunder oneaccount

·       Plain English will replace industryjargon

·       Create a dashboard to show estimated retirement income for individual pension pots, including the statepension

·       Improve access to impartial guidance/regulatedadvice

·       Present pension information in a simple, easy to understandformat

·       Increase awareness and confidence in thesector

·       Encourage empowerment and informed pensionchoices

·       Positive contribution to the overall financial well-being ofindividuals

MaPS would develop a dashboard to help people access information and guidance but other organisations would also develop dashboards.

The task was very large as it involved 52 million adults using 43,000 providers and much work was needed to ensure security of access and key data points which would underpin dashboards to provide common language for pensions. All providers would provide consistently adequate information up to a common standard.  Data collection and input would need to start in order to meet the rollout deadline in 2023.

Due to the complexity of systems and providers in the UK pensions market the task of integration would be considerable and ‘onboarding’ of providers would need to be staged. The report set out what would need to be achieved before this could take place with an indicative timeline of milestone events.  Providers would connect in stages due to the very large numbers of those involved.

The report concluded that the Pensions Dashboard Programme (PDP) would put pressure on providers to ensure that data gaps are addressed so that the right information of the necessary quality could be added to the dashboards, that the McCloud remedy and GMP equalisation would bring additional pressure and that legislation compelled providers to make pensions information available via dashboards.

Members were then given the opportunity to ask questions or comment.  The details of which and the responses received are below:

A Member asked who would be paying for the impact of the McCloud remedy and was advised that it would be the pension fund, employers would effectively be paying for it.  Officers also stated that the dashboard system would need to be funded as well.

Resolved –

That the report be noted.

Action: Director,  West Yorkshire Pension Fund