Nearly 4 in ten (39 per cent) pensions would not be fully located by savers on the pensions dashboard and “drastic” data cleansing is needed, according to PensionBee.

The online pension provider’s data showed only 61 per cent of pensions were fully data matched with a client in 6,500 instances where it was required to contact a pension provider in search of a mutual customer’s scheme.

Over a quarter (26 per cent) would not be located at all, while 13 per cent would only find partial data.

The success rate for 'major' auto-enrolment master trusts, including Nest, B&CE The People's Pension, Now Pensions and Smart Pension, was above the average with 79 per cent being fully identified on the first try,

However, other schemes were only recognised on the first try 52 per cent of the time.

The provider said this was driven by the use of newer systems and data maintenance protocols, such as GDPR, in auto-enrolment schemes.

PensionBee said the four key data elements used to identify a consumer’s pension were their name, date of birth, National Insurance number and address.

The government plans to use digital ID to identify a consumer’s pension, but PensionBee warned that this was unlikely to be available for the launch of the dashboard and so data would probably be provided to consumers based on methods used by the industry today.

PensionBee head of corporate development, Clare Reilly, said: “By the time it launches, savers will have waited more than 20 years for a dashboard so it needs to be fit for purpose from day one.

“This data should be a huge wake up call to the pensions industry. Those with legacy books of business, spread across systems and geographical locations around the country need to finally get their houses in order. The reputation and future of pensions depend on it.”

Reilly added that “only a staged approach can avoid what would otherwise be certain delay”, as it was clear that “master trusts lead the way.”

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