The draft Pensions Dashboards Regulations 2022 were approved by Parliament on November 16, 2022, in what has been described as a “major step” in formalising dashboard duties by the Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP). The Regulations are expected to come into force before the end of the year.

On a dedicated webpage, the PDP has confirmed the staging timetable for occupational schemes’ connection will apply as set out below. 

• Large pension schemes and master trusts (with 1,000 or more members), and most personal pension schemes - end of August 2023.
• Money purchase schemes used for automatic enrolment - from the end of September 2023.
• Non-money purchase schemes – from the end of November 2023.
• Public service pension schemes – from the end of September 2024.
• Medium sized schemes (with between 100 to 999 members) – from the end of October 2024.

Currently, smaller schemes do not fall within the scope of the dashboards regulations. However, the PDP anticipates that further legislation will be made to extend the compulsory connection for these schemes from 2026.

The PDP has released new versions of its pensions dashboards standards following consultation feedback. The November 2022 standards set out mandatory requirements that pension providers, pension schemes and potential dashboard providers will need to follow. The standards will need to be formally approved by the Secretary of State, which can only take place once the Pensions Dashboards Regulations are in force. According to the PDP, the documents have been published early to give as advanced notice as possible of the duties that will need to be complied with and no major changes are expected prior to approval.