With more and more people across the country feeling the pinch in retirement, a new tool from the Department of Work and Pensions could help workers to save an extra £9000 in a boost to their pension posts.
The Pensions Dashboard, which is currently under development, is a new tool that will help people to track down all of their current pension pots – something which could save them thousands.
In our lifetimes many of us will undertake more than one job for one company, and as we move between businesses, it’s easy to overlook an established pension as schemes differ from company to company, meaning our hard-earned contributions could go to waste if we forget about one of the pots.
According to the Pension Policy Institute, around £3.3million of these pots have been lost in the UK, worth on average around £9,470 each. However, in the 55-79 age bracket, they can be worth up to £13,620 per pension.
Researchers have also warned that as more people move between companies to further their careers, the problem is only expected to worsen as more pension pots are started. Yet crucially this is where the new Pension Dashboard aims to come into play.
The tool will give people a platform to view all their pensions in one place, including personal pensions, workplace pensions and the state pension by the time it is fully rolled out, reports The Independent.
By placing all the pots in one place, it will also allow users to accurately visualise just how much money they’ve saved for retirement and allow for more efficient future planning.
In order to make sure no pension its fall through the cracks, all pension providers will be required to register with the service and to ensure savers have access to a record of their current pots, rather than forcing the consumer to track them down themselves.
Under a timetable laid out by the DWP, all pension schemes must be registered with the service by 31 October 2026, a date that was previously agreed by the former Conservative government. Labour pensions minister Emma Reynolds has also confirmed that this deadline will remain unchanged.
However, speaking in October, the minister said it was “too early to confirm a launch date for public use” of the Pensions Dashboard, calling its development a “challenging and complex undertaking”.
Once this system goes live, there will be two versions of the platform, one operated by the government’s MoneyHelper service, and another by private pension companies.
The MoneyHelper version, which is set to be launched first, will be a streamlined and pared back version of the platform which will enable users to simply see their pension pot balances and providers.
The private versions meanwhile, will be released a short while later, and will come with several additional features including advice on consolidating pensions or investments.
Until the new platform is officially released, pension pots can still be tracked down manually on the government’s Pension Tracing Service.
