“Firm foundations” must be put in place to enable the development of the pensions dashboard, Origo has stated.

According to Origo’s new managing director Anthony Rafferty, “the industry first has to lay the firm foundations on which to build the service”.

Rafferty’s focus on the delivery of the dashboard project follows the recent publication of a new report, The Dependency Trap: are we fit enough to face the future?, from the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation (CSFI). The report highlights the importance of delivering the dashboard for consumers and supports the introduction of additional tools to work alongside the platform.

Commenting on the report, Rafferty said: “This insightful study shows how the growing importance of economic productivity beyond the age of 50 is beneficial on a number of fronts and, in particular, for helping people save for their retirement.”

As a result, Rafferty recommended that in order to supplement the dashboard, tools and bespoke calculators should be created to “help the consumer determine their projected retirement sum” and so enable more informed decisions and actions in retirement.

However, to achieve this, it is crucial that the industry gets “the basics right for consumers” to “lay firm foundations on which other services may be developed.”

With the Department for Work and Pensions’ feasibility study on the pensions dashboard due later this year, Rafferty said it is hoped that: “the project continues to move forward, as… it is just the start in helping consumers be aware of their choices and so better prepared for their future lives.”

Rafferty added: “As well as the potential ‘dependency trap’ that we may enter in later life, there is now a growing dependency on our financial services industry to advise, provide product plans and then action those plans.

“The Pensions Dashboard could bring together details of every retirement plan a person holds in one, accessible and simple screen so that they can be fully aware of the provisions they have now. And this could be just the first step in helping our population prepare for, and understand the costs of, retirement.”

The CSFI report, which was published on 29 January 2018, also noted that raising the state pension age is not enough to adequately address the UK’s aging population challenge. Instead, it suggests that an “active ageing” environment, could improve health and economic activity among over 50s and ultimately reduce the dependency of older people drawing pensions early.

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