Pension scheme administrators should be putting detailed plans in place to ensure pension schemes are getting ready to meet their dashboard duties, the Pensions Administration Standards Association (Pasa) has said.

The association’s new Connection Ready Guidance outlines the top the top five actions schemes need to act on now with regard to dashboards connection readiness, with a call for action to schemes and providers.

The guidance aims to fill the gap in terms of when pension schemes should start their preparations and how long this work could take, so that pension schemes and administrators can plan to become ‘connection ready’ before it’s too late.

This is to be followed by further supporting materials including practical tips for certain connection ready activities, checklists of key actions and outlines of connection ready decisions which must be made at a scheme level.

Commenting on the new guidance, Pasa chair, Kim Gubler, argued that while the absence of dashboards staging deadlines has prompted some to deprioritize their dashboards delivery, there are a number of issues pension scheme trustees should be thinking about now.

“There are thousands of schemes which must consider preparation and delivery of data, calculations and administrative processes as well as the technology to connect to dashboards’ Central Digital Architecture," she continued.

“With a finite set of resources, the industry as a whole can’t continue to delay this activity if universal connection by 31 October 2026 is to be achieved.

“We must do a better job of articulating the challenge and working with schemes to generate and deliver on realistic plans for being connection ready. This new guidance is designed to show the practical activities schemes and providers need to complete.

“Pasa worked with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Money and Pensions Service (Maps) and regulators to agree how this definition can best be used to support schemes in monitoring and recording their progress to ensure it’s complementary to guidance and standards which already exist. The guidance includes a draft plan for a single scheme to achieve connection readiness.”

The Pensions Regulator dashboards lead, Lucy Stone, added: “The importance of preparation cannot be overstated. We welcome this guidance which gives practical suggestions on how administrators can support trustees in getting ready for dashboards.

“We urge trustees to work with administrators and others to develop a practical delivery plan and prepare in line with our checklist without delay.’

Adding to this, ITM director and Pasa expert partner for dashboards, Maurice Titley, said: “The simple scheme plan included in the guidance demonstrates it may take 18 months elapsed time (or even longer) to achieve all of the elements of becoming connection ready for one scheme in isolation.

“Very few schemes will have the luxury of suppliers who can focus resources solely on their delivery and industry wide capacity in key areas such as data, IT and administration practice will inevitably be a constraint.

“Trustees and scheme managers need to agree their specific delivery plans with their providers as soon as possible.”

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