Beta version of pensions dashboard due by next March after Treasury signs agreement with 11 largest insurers
A prototype of the government's long-awaited pensions dashboard is due to be ready by March next year, after the UK's biggest pension providers gave the project a green light.
The Treasury has secured an agreement from the 11 groups, including Aviva, HSBC, Royal London, Standard Life and Zurich, to build the prototype, while the Association of British Insurers has agreed to manage the pilot scheme.
The online dashboard is a free-to-use platform that lets savers see all their pension pots in one place at a glance.
It was first announced in the March Budget as part of the government's wider strategy to get people more engaged with their retirement money-pots.
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On average, a person can have 11 employers over their working life, leaving them with almost a dozen private pensions by the time they reach retirement.
The dashboard will provide a link to "lost" pension pots with previous employers and could help release the £400m worth of pensions savings the Department for Work and Pensions estimates is currently going unclaimed.
"Pensions and savings decisions are some of the most important a person will make during their lifetime. The government is determined to make sure people can access the information they need to plan effectively for their future," economic secretary Simon Kirby will say today at Aviva's "Digital Garage" fintech hub in Shoreditch.
Technology, like mobile phone apps, has made day-to-day banking easier than it’s ever been and it is time for pensions to catch up. Think of a future where you can compare your pension pots with the touch of a button.
The Pensions Dashboard will unlock a huge amount of information that will help people make the best choices for them and I am delighted that eleven of the largest pension providers have agreed to work together to build a working prototype by March 2017.
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Aviva's chief digital officer Andrew Brem said: "I'm delighted to host the launch of the pensions dashboard at Aviva's digital garage. The pensions dashboard is a vital tool in increasing engagement with savings and I'm really pleased that we are working on the pilot.
"As an industry we need to make it as easy as possible for people to get a view of all their retirement savings in one place to help them take control of their future."
Earlier on this year, consumer interest group Which? urged government to hurry up with the creation of a pensions dashboard, after it discovered that just under half (47 per cent) of employees aged over 50 who have a personal pension plan are not confident about how much they have set aside for their golden years.
The dashboard is due to be available to the public by 2019.