The process to implement a multiple default consolidator model for small pots will not be the same as the approach taken for dashboard implementation, Pensions Administration Standards Association (Pasa) president, Kim Gubler, has highlighted.

Speaking at the Pensions UK Annual Conference, Gubler stated that “in an ideal world, the government would come along and build a central system”.

However, “we are not in an ideal world, so we need to make sure that we looked at how we could reuse what we've learnt from the dashboards project”, she added.

According to Gubler, “lots of people felt that we could just ‘drag and drop’ from dashboards, but one of the things that was clear from the outset is that, whilst there is a lot of learning that could happen from the dashboards project, a dashboard itself is basically a consumer-to-business model, where the individual verify themselves, and they give authority for their data to be shared".

“Whereas from a small-pots perspective, you've got potential consolidators and ceding schemes with small pots; the individual is completely passive in that [consolidation], so they don't have powers," she stated. "So, a lot of that were predicated around dashboards was not relevant to small pots.”

Gubler also added that, with dashboards, each individual scheme determines what its matching criteria is going to be.

However, “we were very, very clear that in a small-pot environment, [matching criteria] should be prescribed. There should not be people setting the bar too high or too low, there should be a prescribed way of being able to match that small pot,” she added.

In September, Pensions UK's Small Pots Feasibility Review found that the government’s plan to implement a multiple default consolidator model to tackle the issue of small pots was feasible, and that a united, industry-delivered model would be a cost-effective solution for implementing the Small Pots Data Platform by 2030.

The review suggested that the proposed model would allow schemes and future consolidators to interact directly through agreed data and messaging standards.

However, the review suggested that a second phase of work will be required to refine technical standards, governance arrangements, consumer protections, and implementation phasing, aligned with the passage of secondary legislation.

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