The government is considering whether the provision of information to the pensions dashboard should be made compulsory.

In parliamentary written questions and answers addressed to HM Treasury, Labour MP for Stockton North asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer to explain his policy on making it mandatory for all pension providers to provide relevant data to pensions dashboards.

Responding to the largely debated topic, MP for North East Cambridgeshire Stephen Barclay explained that the government is “considering the next steps for the policy”.

Barclay added that the “successful demonstration” of the prototype in April this year presented the possibility of providing information from a number of pension schemes in one place.

This was “met with enthusiasm by technology start-ups, financial advisors and the media,” he said.

Earlier this year, the Association of British Insurers commented that provision of data to the pensions dashboard “needs to be compulsory”.

Speaking at the Pension and Lifetime Savings Association's Local Authority conference, ABI deputy director Rob Yuille stated: "If we want this [pensions dashboard] to work it needs to be comprehensive, it needs to be made compulsory".

The pensions dashboard prototype was released in April; the government aims for the service to be available to consumers by 2019.

Yuille told Pensions Age, today: “After the successful delivery of the pensions dashboard prototype, the firms involved are keen to maintain momentum and get the further work under way to allow for the roll out of a comprehensive and properly regulated service. The ABI is overseeing an interim phase of the project and we look forward to more clarity from Government on how they’re going to take this forward, including the important issue of ensuring all pension providers will be involved.”

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