At the Aviva Digital Garage later today, Simon Kirby, the economic secretary to the Treasury, will announce that a prototype of the Pensions Dashboard will be ready by March 2017.
The Treasury has secured agreement from 11 of the largest pension providers – Aviva, Aon, HSBC, LV=, NEST, Now: Pensions, People’s Pension, Royal London, Standard Life, Zurich and Willis Towers Watson – to build the first prototype of its kind in the UK. The ABI has also agreed to manage the pilot project.
The Pensions Dashboard is a platform that lets savers see all their pension pots in one place and the purpose is to help them to plan for their retirement more effectively.
On average, a person can have 11 employers over their working life, which means that they could end up with almost a dozen private pensions by the time they retire.
At the moment there is no way for people to see the value of all of their pensions in one place and research has shown that over a third of people approaching retirement find it difficult to keep track of their pension pots.
The pensions dashboard aims to also provide a link to “lost” pension pots with previous employers and could help release the £400 billion worth of pensions savings that the Department for Work and Pension estimate are currently unclaimed.
It could also prompt people to seek advice as to whether their pension savings are in the best place.
Kirby said: “Pensions and savings decisions are some of the most important a person will make during their lifetime. The government is determined to make sure people can access the information they need to plan effectively for their future.
“Technology, like mobile phone apps, has made day to day banking easier than it’s ever been and it is time for pensions to catch up. Think of a future where you can compare your pension pots with the touch of a button.
“The Pensions Dashboard will unlock a huge amount of information that will help people make the best choices for them and I am delighted that eleven of the largest pension providers have agreed to work together to build a working prototype by March 2017.”
Andrew Brem, Aviva’s chief digital officer, added: “I’m delighted to host the launch of the Pensions Dashboard at Aviva’s Digital Garage. The Pensions Dashboard is a vital tool in increasing engagement with savings and I’m really pleased that we are working on the pilot.
“As an industry we need to make it as easy as possible for people to get a view of all their retirement savings in one place to help them take control of their future.”