2025

15 October 2025 – VfM metrics research

The People’s Partnership publishes a media release on new research with the Behavioural Insights Team.

Simple Value for Money (VfM) metrics can help consumers (who’ve seen their pensions listed on a dashboard) answer their very natural question:

“Which one’s best?”

But this isn’t linked to Private Sector Pensions Dashboards (PSPDs), as the People’s media release suggests. Such VfM metrics would need to be added to the mandatory View Dataset (returned by all pension providers) so that they can be shown on the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard (MHPD), which is going to be the UK’s only dashboard for years / ever.



6 October 2025 – Consumer testing underway

A PDP blog article confirms low volume, moderated testing of the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard (MHPD), by real consumers, is now underway.

This is 3 months later than indicated in the Consumer testing approach published in July 2025. In the timeline below, I have updated the indicative dates accordingly.

If Consumer testing concludes successfully in Autumn 2026, the 6-month MHLN (MoneyHelper Launch Notice) may be published by Christmas 2026, suggesting an MHLD (MoneyHelper Launch Date) in Summer 2027. But it all depends on how well the Consumer testing goes.



26 September 2025 – First dashboard usage

PDP publishes a blog and video about Chris Curry’s first live usage of the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard.



18 September 2025 – MaPS Strategy and Live usage

Two updates from MaPS:



17 September 2025 – PASA Toolkit and Webinar

PASA publishes new Dashboards Toolkit content, publicised with a press release and via a webinar, which also mentions July’s updated Data Matching Convention (DMC) guidance.



16 September 2025 – Small Pots Feasibility Report

Pensions UK published its Feasibility Report on the consolidation of small pots, promoted via a press release, with 94 mentions of pensions dashboards in the full pdf document. As I say in a LinkedIn post, it’s great that the report recommends industry doesn’t cede control to government as happened with dashboards.



15 September 2025 – 50 million connected records

Following the 8 August update below, PDP issues a new video update confirming over 50 million pension records are now connected to the ecosystem (plus State Pension, so the total’s actually well over 70 million).

It’s a good job because, on the same day, a new report from the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) and Ipsos, finds people feel “feel disconnected, overwhelmed, and unsupported in planning for retirement” (as I highlight in a LinkedIn post).



11 September 2025 – TPR administration report

In its Market oversight report on pensions admin, and associated media release, The Pensions Regulator (TPR) says “we expect pensions dashboards to increase member interest and engagement”.

The extent to which that is emotional engagement (such as awareness, confidence, trust, etc.) versus active engagement (such as taking next steps after seeing all your pensions on a dashboard) remains to be seen. We’ll hopefully start to understand this once the first results of the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard (MHPD) consumer testing are shared by MaPS.



3 September 2025 – State Pension blog

A PDP blog article clarifies some details about how the State Pension will appear on pensions dashboards.



27 August 2025 – Connections update blog

A blog article by PDP’s Tim Reichardt explains how they have been able to improve the data connection process based on the feedback from the early connectors.



18 August 2025 – Launch Manager Recruitment

MaPS advertises, on a 20 month fixed term contract, for a Planning and Campaign Manager to “play a pivotal role in launching and promoting the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard” (MHPD).

With applications closing on Monday 1 September, the successful candidate might reasonably be expected to be in post by, say 1 November 2025. 20 months from then takes you to the end of H1 2027 – a clue to MaPS’ early thinking about the MHPD launch maybe?



8 August 2025 – 60m+ records connected

A PDP video announces over 40 millions workplace and private pension records are now connected to the dashboards ecosystem. But, as I say in my LinkedIn post, the total’s now probably between 60 & 70 million including State Pension records, heading towards in excess of 100 million records by 31 October 2026.



6 August 2025 – MHPD testing blog

A blog article from MaPS’s Adam Gifford outlines their approach for testing the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard (MHPD), with a link to the full approach.



2 August 2025 – This is Money article

A This is Money article, by The Mail’s Personal Finance Editor Jeff Prestridge, explains how dashboards are “a game-changer”, but also how he doubts they will “be fully operational by the next General Election in 2029”.



31 July 2025 – Logos connected as at July

My usual month-end LinkedIn post shows the logos of data providers connected to the dashboards ecosystem so far.



28 July 2025 – Nest and Smart connect

This blog doesn’t generally cover media releases about every pension provider’s, master trust’s, and third-party pensions administration (TPA) firm’s data connection to the dashboards ecosystem. Instead, I post a monthly graphic of “Logos connected so far” on LinkedIn. But exceptions are what make the rule, right?

Today, a Nest press release and a Smart Pension press release announce these two huge master trusts’ data connection, adding another 15.3 million more pensions which are now digitally searchable.



24 July 2025 – TPR ‘data debt’ blog

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) publishes a blog article urging scheme trustees not only to get their data up to scratch for dashboards, but to “change their mindset – and appropriately focus on and invest in their data”.



21 July 2025 – DWP research findings

On the day the Labour Government revives the Pensions Commission, supported by its Finishing the job policy paper, it also publishes a range of research reports including the findings of the DWP Planning and Preparing for Later Life (PPLL) 2024 study.

Both the Summary and Chapter 4 of DWP PPLL 2024 include the finding that most people aged 40 to 75 said they would be very (50%) or fairly (31%) likely to use a dashboard.

The same chapter also includes findings on people’s pensions confidence which I summarise in a LinkedIn post.



18 July 2025 – DashboardIdeas’ 11th birthday

I celebrate this blog’s 11th birthday with a LinkedIn post.



17 July 2025 – Voluntary connection and TPR plan

A PDP article requests feedback on draft guidance for schemes / providers with less than 100 actives / deferreds, who wish to connect to the ecosystem voluntarily despite not being required to do so by law.

Meanwhile, in its Corporate Plan 2024 to 2027: Year 2 Update, The Pensions Regulator (TPR) reconfirms the different actions it is taking to help pension schemes and administrators to prepare for dashboards.



16 July 2025 – WPC oral evidence session

At an “end of term” oral evidence session of the Work and Pensions Committee (WPC), the Rt Hon Liz Kendall MP, Secretary of State, and Sir Peter Schofield, Permanent Secretary, are questioned on the work of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Committee Member Amanda Hack MP asks about dashboards (see transcript Q81-83, watch replay from 10:44:00 to 10:51:40). Sir Peter says “Information presented clearly, and in a straightforward way, is at the heart of this … everyone wants to get this right”.



14 July 2025 – Transfer taskforce

Before the rollout of pensions dashboards, PensionBee Head of PR Steven Kennedy calls, in a press release, for a joint DWP / FCA / TPR taskforce to drive the digitisation and streamlining of pensions transfer processes, ensuring industry is fully prepared to meet its obligations amid growing transfer volumes.



9 July 2025 – PASA DMC and PDP Town Hall

A busy day on dashboards:

A PASA press release announces an updated version of the PASA Data Matching Convention (DMC) Guidance.

Meanwhile, PDP holds its second Town Hall event (including the morning and afternoon slides used), confirming State Pension is connected, and publishing an updated consumer testing plan for the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard. A reflective Chris Curry blog on the event is published on 15 July.

Also at the Town Hall, Programme Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) Iain Patterson says, as reported in PensionsAge, that “PDP is looking to explore the possibility of providing technical testing for private sector dashboards towards the end of this year”.



7 July 2025 – Second reading of the Bill

Pensions dashboards are mentioned several times during the Commons Second Reading of the Pension Schemes Bill, including the humorous exchange below:



7 July 2025 – End of term report: 7 out of 10

Following on from my June 2024 article scoring the previous government’s dashboards progress, Pensions Expert publishes an updated score (now 7 out of 10 against the 10 asks made by industry in 2017). Much progress is expected in the next year to summer 2026!



3 July 2025 – Adviser scepticism

A Professional Adviser survey of 50 readers finds only one thinks dashboards will be worth the wait. One respondent said people should just be more organised.

In response, LCP Partner and former Pensions Minister Steve Webb says “it would be a big mistake to underestimate the impact [dashboards] will have”.



30 June 2025 – FCA targeted support consultation

An FCA press release announces consultation CP25/17 (closing at the end of August) on its targeted support proposals and draft Handbook Rules. There’s just one mention of dashboards, in paragraph 2.96 on page 36: “The information pensions dashboard services make available to consumers could help identify if a consumer matches a consumer segment”.



27 June 2025 – Logos connected as at end June

I post my latest monthly update on LinkedIn of the pension organisations now live connected to the dashboards ecosystem.



20 June 2025 – PDP special characters guidance

PDP publishes guidance on the special characters returned by the GOV.UK One Login identity service to help schemes refine their matching policies.



18 June 2025 – TPR guidance update

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) updates it guidance for pensions schemes on connecting to the dashboards ecosystem (nearly 3 years since its original publication).



5 June 2025 – Pension Schemes Bill

Ministers introduce a Pension Schemes Bill (and accompanying 403 page Impact Assessment) to Parliament, together with an associated Roadmap for Workplace pensions.

Of relevance to dashboards is clause 96, providing for data from the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) and the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) to be made available to dashboards – as I explained in this LinkedIn post:



4 June 2025 – MfP response to WPC

The Work and Pensions Committee (WPC) publishes the response letter from the Minister for Pensions (MfP) (scroll down to the 7 May 2025 entry below to see the WPC letter to him). Sadly, the response only fully answers 4 of the 15 questions raised in the WPC’s letter.



3 June 2025 – DPIA blog

Slaughter & May’s Abi Wainwright publishes a helpful blog article article on the requirements for data providers connecting the dashboards ecosystem to complete a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA).



3 June 2025 – ABI QPDS report

The ABI publishes a press release on their report setting out what’s required from government if we’re to see any private sector dashboards launched before the next General Election.



21 May 2025 – PDP blog

PDP Principal Chris Curry publishes a blog article (in PDP’s new website colours) about their 11th six-monthly Progress Update Report (PUR).



19 May 2025 – PDP PUR #11 webinar

PDP holds a webinar on their 11th six-monthly Progress Update Report (PUR).



15 May 2025 – PDP PUR #11

PDP publishes its 11th six-monthly Progress Update Report (PUR) including, for the first time, a separate Pensions Dashboards Advisory Group (PDAG) Report.

On the same day, PDP also published Guidance in support of the PDP Reporting Standards.



8 May 2025 – PDP CDA DPIA

PDP publishes the CDA DPIA.



7 May 2025 – WPC letter to MfP

Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee Debbie Abrahams MP sends a letter with 15 questions on the delivery of dashboards to Minister for Pensions (MfP) Torsten Bell MP, published on the WPC Correspondence page, and requesting a reply by 21 May.



6 May 2025 – Connections and launch call

Three more providers announce their live connections to the dashboards ecosystem (in addition to Legal & General, AJ Bell and Standard Life mentioned below): Aegon (including the Aon Master Trust which they administer), Barnett Waddingham and Moneybox.

At the latter, Brian Byrnes calls for government to make “a firm commitment to making dashboards available to the public by 2026 … [and] to transparency in its findings from the user testing phase, enabling industry to learn from this insight and support the successful development of future commercial dashboards”.



2 May 2025 – CDA cost increase

On the Government’s Find a Tender portal, MaPS publishes an F20 Modification notice explaining how Capgemini’s costs for delivering and operating the Central Digital Architecture (CDA), to September 2028, have increased by about 26% from £57m to £72m.



30 April 2025 – Data connection day

As we reach the “Connect by” date for Cohort 1(a) of pension schemes and providers, various firms announce how they have completed connecting their pension data to the dashboards ecosystem, including AJBell and Standard Life, part of Phoenix Group.



29 April 2025 – WTW survey results

A WTW press release highlights the findings of its polling of 68 UK pension scheme managers at a WTW Pensions Dashboard Webinar on 2 April 2025.



26 April 2025 – Pensions Minister on Money Box

Asked by BBC Radio 4 Money Box presenter Paul Lewis: “When will Money Box listeners be able to log on to the pensions dashboard and see all their pensions in one place?”, the Pensions Minister Torsten Bell replies: “I can’t tell you an exact date … [but] I think we’re talking about a couple of years when we’ll see widespread use”.



24 April 2025 – Small Pots legislation

In a press release, DWP confirms the upcoming Pensions Bill will include provisions to address the proliferation of small pension pots. The announcement is accompanied by the Report of the Small Pots Delivery Group including Chapter 2 on proposed Interaction with Dashboards.



23 April 2025 – Provider and Scheme Readiness

PDP publishes a survey report on the readiness of FCA regulated pension providers, echoing a parallel report from TPR on the readiness of pension schemes (published on 5 March), together with an accompanying blog article from Chris Curry.



17 April 2025 – L&G is first connected provider

A PDP announcement confirms the first pension provider (which is Legal & General) has connected to the pensions dashboards ecosystem.



14 April 2025 – FCA Regulatory Initiatives Grid (RIG)

The FCA publishes an updated version of its RIG including that it doesn’t intend to commence the authorisation of any applicant private sector dashboard operators until H2 2026 (at the very earliest, as this is subject to numerous external dependencies).



8 April 2025 – FCA work programme

The FCA publishes its 2025/26 work programme including that “we will invest £700,000 to establish an authorisations gateway for private sector pensions dashboard operators”.



3 April 2025 – PDP update webinar

PDP and TPR host a webinar giving updates on registration codes for data providers.



1 April 2025 – Two IFS reports

The Institute for Fiscal Studies publishes two reports (one on individuals’ challenges, the other on proposed policies) mentioning how dashboards will help people deciding how to use their defined contribution pensions to provide incomes in retirement.



27 March 2025 – Inadequacy Invisibility

In an FT Adviser article, Tara O’Connor quotes what I said at the PASA Annual Conference:



21 March 2025 – Third party data connections

PDP publishes a blog article for pension schemes and providers connecting their data to the ecosystem via a third party.



19 March 2025 – Standard Life and WPC

Three Phoenix Group representatives (Evey Tang, Matt Burrell & Timothy Fassam) show the Work and Pensions Committee (WPC) members the nascent Standard Life private sector pensions dashboard. As I told the WPC a fortnight previously, it breaks my heart that we may not see any private sector dashboards actually emerge given the delivery pathway is so onerous and uncertain.



18 March 2025 – PDP blog

In a PDP blog article, Chris Curry summarises what pension schemes and providers must do to connect the data they hold to the pensions dashboards ecosystem.



13 March 2025 – PDP Standards published

PDP publishes V2.0 of the MaPS Data Standards, Technical Standards, Reporting Standards and Code of Connection (comprising Security, Service and Operational Standards) now all approved by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and the Department for Communities (Northern Ireland).

Design Standards, essential for private sector dashboards are, of course, still months away.



5 March 2025 – WPC oral evidence session and 3 providers connected

The Work and Pensions Committee (WPC) holds an oral evidence session on progress towards dashboards from 11 witnesses from industry, FCA, TPR and MaPS. Rewatch the session here, or read the transcript here: HTML or pdf versions. My written evidence is here. At the session, PDP announces that Heywood, Legal & General and Pension Fusion have completed their journeys to connect their data to the PDP CDA.



27 February 2025 – FCA discussion closes

FCA’s consultation on its Discussion Paper DP24/3 closes, with one firm calling in its response for private sector regulated pensions dashboards to be delayed.



25 February 2025 – PDP SRO appointment letter

DWP publishes the letter formally appointing Iain Patterson as the Senior Responsible Owner of the Pensions Dashboards Programme. The letter is from three different bodies: MaPS, DWP and IPA.



22 February 2025 – Daily Express report

A report in the Daily Express discusses upcoming dashboards.



17 February 2025 – MoneyHelper dashboard demo

At a PDP Connection Forum, the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard (MHPD) team demonstrate the latest Figma prototype of the MHPD and talk about their citizen testing plans. See the slides here, and the Q&A from the session here.



13 February 2025 – The Martin Lewis Podcast and FCA consultation

On a special pensions edition of The Martin Lewis Podcast on BBC Sounds, Martin mentions the (potential) launch of pensions dashboards next year. Listen from 39:00.

Meanwhile, FCA’s pensions targeted support consultation CP24/27 closes, with TISA saying in its response to Q21 that “There needs to be a seamless way for users to access off-dashboard targeted support services from their pension provider(s) [and] expanding the [dashboard] data export permissions to enable firms to receive the data directly would help achieve this”.



12 February 2025 – IFS small pots report

A report on small pension pots from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says that “it would be wasteful to repeat all the work done for pensions dashboards when creating a clearing house or central registry, rather than utilising [the dashboards] platform”. Quite!



6 February 2025 – PDP 2025 forward look video

In a PDP video update, PDP Chris Curry highlights plans for 2025, including starting preliminary work on identifying opportunities for regulated dashboards” (which seems a bit tardy seeing as we already know from international evidence, as I said in my LinkedIn post, consumers overwhelmingly want to use regulated dashboards, on familiar apps, from brands they trust, as opposed to the unregulated government dashboard).



29 January 2025 – WPC oral evidence

At an Oral evidence session of the Work and Pensions Committee (WPC) reviewing the DWP’s Annual Report and Accounts, Committee Member John Milne (Liberal Democrat MP for Horsham) asks DWP Permanent Secretary Sir Peter Schofield, and one of his Director Generals Neil Couling, four dashboards questions.

Watch here (7 minutes from 11:09:45 to 11:16:45) or read the transcript here (Q56 to Q59).



27 January 2025 – FCA registration codes process and MoneyHelper alpha update

FCA publishes a process and application form by which FCA-regulated pension providers can apply to the FCA for a code allowing them to register (with MaPS) their data connection to the dashboards ecosystem.


Meanwhile, GDS publishes an update on the alpha Service Standard Assessment (SSA) of the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard (MHPD) which took place on 10 July 2024, with the report being published on 14 October 2024.

At that time, the alpha SSA assessed the MHPD as green against 13 of the 14 Points in the GDS Service Standard, but it was assessed as amber against point 12.

Now, GDS is publishing the outcome of the review of further evidence against this amber rating (which happened on 13 November 2024), with the result that the assessment of Point 12 is now green, making the result of the overall alpha SSA of the MHPD green.



17 January 2025 – IPA Annual Report 2023-24

The Cabinet Office / HM Treasury Infrastructure and Projects Authority publishes its Annual Report for 2023-24 showing, on page 34, that in 2023 their delivery confidence assessment (DCA) of PDP returned from Red to Amber, as a result of the programme reset.



8 January 2025 – PDP Reporting Standards

PDP updates it reporting standards including a relaxation for connected data providers not to have to commence regular reporting to MaPS until a later date.



3 January 2025 – ‘Dead money’ on dashboards?

2024 ended with a PensionsAge article and 2025 (the twelfth year of this blog) starts with another one: pension firm Cartwright advises scheme trustees to consider the pros and cons of having to connect to the dashboards ecosystem for just a relatively short time before the scheme is, for example, bought out (after which the buy-out provider would then take over responsibility for connecting to the ecosystem).