Pensions Dashboards: DWP publishes its long-awaited staged timetable for schemes’ dashboard connection

All occupational schemes, along with personal pension providers, must connect to pensions dashboards by October 31, 2026, at the latest. The DWP has now published guidance setting out a staged timetable, starting with the largest schemes. This phased connection aims to smooth the process of connecting the approximately 3,000 pension schemes and providers in scope by the 2026 connection deadline.

The revised connection timetable runs from April 30, 2025, to October 31, 2026. Key connection dates:

• April 30, 2025 - DC master trusts with more than 20,000 members and FCA-regulated providers of schemes with more than 5,000 members.
• May 31, 2025 – DC schemes with more than 5,000 members that are used for auto-enrolment, together with hybrid schemes with more than 20,000 members and schemes with no DC members.
• January 31, 2026 - is the first connection date for “medium” schemes.

The timetable is not mandatory, but the DWP is encouraging trustees and pension scheme providers to follow the dates in its guidance unless there are exceptional circumstances preventing them from doing so. The guidance includes a checklist for schemes to use in their countdown to connection.

The Pensions Dashboards Programme published a blog on April 9, 2024, which includes links to the DWP guidance, the FCA rules covering stakeholder and personal pensions and the relevant regulations.

In addition, the DWP has published some Financial Reporting Council guidance to assist with turning the value of accrued DC pots into equivalent annual incomes on dashboards. This should help DC savers in understanding how their DC pot will translate into actual income on retirement.