The Department of Work and Pensions has published a new consultation on two issues relating to the pensions dashboards.
These cover the way in which the ‘go-live’ date will be announced, alongside a consultation on communication between the Money and Pensions Service (MAPS) and the Pensions Regulator.
However former pensions minister and LCP partner Steve Webb says consultation around this first issue is ‘missing the point’ – as it is not consulting on whether there should be a phased introduction of these new platforms.
According to the consultation the DWP will not finalise the the go-live date — referred to by the government as the ‘Dashboards Available Point’ (DAP) — until certain conditions have been met in terms of coverage and evidence of user understanding and experience, although some broad indication will be given as to the likely date.
Current expectations are that this may be in summer 2024, though there has yet to be any official indication of the intended date.
Webb says that although the consultation makes brief mention of the suggestion of a phased go-live, there is no indication that the DWP is planning anything other than a ‘big bang’ switch on, albeit following a period of extensive ‘beta testing’.
He says a sudden switch-on of dashboards could cause huge headaches to pension schemes and providers and could also be a negative experience for users.
With a ‘big bang’ switch-on, the dashboard infrastructure could face a huge ‘surge’ in demand, needing much greater capacity and resilience than would be needed for a more gradual process. In addition, once users see their data it is likely to lead to a surge in queries to schemes, who may not be able to cope with the demand.
Webb says: “The big issue which DWP’s latest consultation ignores is whether there should be a ‘big bang’ switch-on of dashboards at all. If the whole project goes live on a single day there could be a huge spike in demand, especially if the launch attracts widespread media attention.
“Pension schemes may face real challenges in dealing with all the follow-up queries and engagement from members. A phased approach, perhaps by age, would be much more sensible, allowing the whole system to bed in and proper plans to be made.
“As things stand, schemes may have just 90 days’ notice of a major call on their resources, and may find it very difficult to put in place the surge capacity to provide a positive user experience”.
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