The pensions minister has instructed the Pensions Dashboards Programme to prioritise the MoneyHelper dashboard by the Money and Pensions Service, saying it would be “prudent to allow a period while only the MoneyHelper dashboard is operational” before commercial dashboards become available to the public.  

“I have directed the PDP to focus its efforts on the connection and launch of the MoneyHelper dashboard service (provided by MaPS), before turning to the work of connecting commercial dashboard services,” Emma Reynolds said in a written statement to the House of Commons on Tuesday.  

She added that “the government supports the principle of enabling multiple commercial pensions dashboard services” but to ensure consumers have “the best experience” on dashboards, it would be “prudent to allow a period while only the MoneyHelper dashboard is operational”.   

Prioritising the government’s own version of the pensions dashboard will provide insights into customer behaviour and confidence in operational delivery, security, and consumer protection before the connection of commercial dashboards starts, she added.  

The decision harks back to amendments agreed by the House of Lords in 2020, when Labour peer Baroness Jeannie Drake proposed that the MaPS dashboard should be up and running for a year before commercial versions became available. The Johnson government opposed the amendment, which followed debate on whether there should be multiple dashboards at all.  

Reynolds did not say when dashboards might become available to the public, but said this will be at the earliest opportunity, calling the focus on the MoneyHelper dashboard a step towards this.  

The statement comes after the government formally “reset” the PDP following a damning report by the National Audit Office into delays and cost overruns.
   

   

   

The pensions minister pointed to progress made by the PDP, saying the Infrastructure and Projects Authority has therefore increased its confidence in PDP’s ability to deliver against the revised plan, confirming the current connection schedule with schemes and providers connecting from next year and a hard connection deadline of 31 October 2026.  

Chief executive of MaPS Oliver Morley said: “Pensions dashboards will transform how people view their retirement savings, and will help pension providers and schemes’ engagement with better informed customers and members. Dashboards are a truly collaborative effort between government, industry and regulators. We are working hard together to create a service that puts savers in control of their pensions.”  

Providers said that launching the MoneyHelper dashboard first could be a form of live testing for other providers.  

“The decision to have the MaPS dashboard launch before their private sector equivalents could be a good thing for the ecosystem if they are able to provide a live testing environment as quickly as possible. As MaPS does not need to seek regulatory permission, this could create valuable insights that will help the transition to a multi-dashboard environment run smoothly once the regulatory environment is clarified by the [Financial Conduct Authority],” said Gail Izat, managing director for workplace pensions at Standard Life.  

Izat said a lesson from the rollout of pensions dashboards in other countries was that it is difficult to predict how exactly they will be used until live data is available.   

However, she said multiple dashboards would help with adoption by users: “Permitting multiple dashboards improves the chances of mass adoption by engaging people in the places they go to view their pensions. The customer journeys and information that are provided around the dashboards are almost as important as the data itself, so provider dashboards are vital to encourage innovation in this space too.”  

Yvonne Braun, director of policy, long-term savings, health and protection at the Association of British Insurers, said: “Commercial dashboards are vital because they will allow the maximum number of people to find their pension information in the online services they use day to day. It is therefore crucial both the MoneyHelper dashboard and commercial dashboards are launched as soon as possible, and very closely together, so that this pioneering project can deliver on its enormous potential."

Nigel Peaple, chief policy counsel at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, said the decision to first connect the government-run MoneyHelper dashboard provided “a sensible way of derisking the project for government, schemes and savers”, allowing for more testing.