The Association of British Insurers has implied the pensions dashboard may not be rolled out to the public without a change in law, which makes the provision of data compulsory from providers and schemes.

In a press release issued by the Association on a survey conducted by Mumsnet, on how the dashboard will help parents save for their retirement, the ABI stated that the technology is “mostly ready” but, “before the service can be offered to the public there needs to be a change in the law to ensure all pension providers and schemes will be involved”.

In addition, it also stressed a change in the law needs to put the “necessary regulations and security in place”.

Furthermore, a quote in the release from ABI director of long-term savings and protection policy Yvonne Braun said: “Now we need government and the regulators to commit to putting the rules and regulations in place to make this a service we can roll out to the public.”

Although it is the ABI’s preference that providers and schemes should be made to provide data for the dashboard, it has not previously been made clear that it may not be rolled out at all until there is a change in the law to allow this to happen.

Last month the government said it is still considering whether the provision of information to the pensions dashboard should be made compulsory. In order to meet its target launch date by 2019, the government will need to make a change in the law in the next 16 months, otherwise it could risk not meeting the deadline.

In response to confirmation on whether the dashboard will be launched without a legal change that requires the provision of data, the ABI said it cannot rule it out.

Braun added: “As we have made clear from the beginning, demonstrating the technological hurdles can be overcome is only one part of the journey towards delivering a comprehensive online service which will collate all of people’s pensions information.

“We need to see government continue its backing for this project, and explore with us how legislation and regulation can drive adoption. Experience from elsewhere shows that services only gain widespread adoption reasonably quickly if there is a legislative requirement.”

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