Pensions Dashboards Update – March 2025

There have been a number of developments since our last Pensions Dashboards Update in January.

Updated Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) Standards

Updated PDP standards (data, technical, reporting and code of connection) have been approved by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and the Department for Communities (Northern Ireland), were published on 13 March 2025 and can be found here.  The design standards consultation is closed with feedback under review. Schemes will need to comply with the published standards as they prepare to connect to the dashboards ecosystem.

First participants connect

Three participants have successfully passed PDP’s ‘operational acceptance testing’ and are connected to the ecosystem, with the milestone being discussed during a recent Work and Pensions Select Committee session.  The largest pension schemes must begin connecting by the end of April 2025 with a staged timetable running through to the connection deadline at the end of October 2026. The staged timetable for connection can be found here.

PDP outlines what schemes need to do ahead of connecting to the pensions dashboards ecosystem

The PDP has published a blog highlighting what schemes need to do before connecting to the ecosystem, namely:

1. Confirm the scheme’s ‘connect by’ date
2. Confirm the route to connection
3. Review and comply with the PDP standards
4. Prepare scheme data
5. Decide on the scheme’s data matching approach
6. Stay up to date
7. Use PDP guidance and support

Trustees should have an appropriate governance structure in place to oversee pensions dashboard compliance and should be well underway in preparing their schemes for their ‘connect by’ dates.  Trustees will need to be able to monitor progress towards compliance with an appropriate audit trail of decisions taken. Data and dashboards should be regular items at trustee board meetings and trustees should be considering data mapping and any data gaps. Trustees should review and understand the contractual agreements with their providers and ensure the provisions are consistent with their objectives for dashboard compliance.  

If you would like any advice or assistance with dashboards compliance, we are very well placed to help. Please contact Andy Prater, Susannah Young or your usual Burges Salmon Pensions and Lifetime Savings team contact.