You can read the story here: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/esther-mcvey-wants-to-kill-off-online-pension-tracker-06385nbws
Tom Selby, senior analyst at AJ Bell, comments: “If the Government does scrap the Pensions Dashboard it will be a huge blow to millions of savers. Many people already have defined contribution pensions from old jobs scattered across various different schemes, alongside bits of defined benefit entitlement and state pensions too.
“These pensions might be sat in poorly performing investments or subject to high charges that erode their value over time. It was hoped that allowing people to see all their pots in one place would encourage them to engage with their retirement pot, seek better value for money and clearly understand how much more they need to save for later life.
“Ultimately if the project is abandoned then the problem of pension pot proliferation – which will only get worse following the roll out of automatic enrolment – will still need to be dealt with one way or another. It might just be that a Government department burned by the painful introduction of Universal Credit has simply got cold feet over another major IT project.
“There is also a broader issue here of trust between the Government and the pensions industry. It was the Government that told the industry it needed to develop a workable Pensions Dashboard model and deliver it by 2019. Huge amounts of time, effort and money have been dedicated by Association of British Insurers members to make that happen, with wide engagement from platforms, charities, advice firms and others.
“If the DWP is now going to pull the plug at the eleventh hour then the industry will legitimately question whether involvement in future such projects is really worth it.”