The Pensions Regulator (TPR) has urged pension scheme trustees to prepare "now" for the introduction of pensions dashboards.

Speaking on the TPR Talks podcast, TPR executive director or regulatory policy, analysis and advice, David Fairs, stated that “the time is now” to prepare for pensions dashboards.

“If you haven’t started to prepare for the dashboard, now is the time to take action, now is the time to make sure your data is complete, accurate and ready to be digitized, and now is the time to start thinking of how you are going to get that data into the dashboard," Fairs stated.

Fairs also offered guidance for the specific action that schemes should take in preparation, including “taking stock of data, working out whether its complete and accurate, if its ready to be digitized, what needs to be done to improve it”, although he clarified that “trustees really should be doing those things already”.

Speaking on the same podcast, Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) principal, Chris Curry, agreed that pension scheme trustees should "start as soon as you can".

"There’s an awful lot to get through and the sooner you start it you’re more likely to meet the deadline," he continued.

Despite this, Curry suggested that schemes will be prepared for the deadline, noting that the “industry has a really good history of rising to the challenge when they’re pressed and when they’re really up against it”.

Industry experts have previously raised concerns over the amount of work required to meet dashboard deadlines, with research from KGC associates warning that work to meet pension dashboards deadlines could come at the cost of other projects.

However, Curry also offered reassurance to pension schemes, emphasising that that the industry will be aware of dashboard available dates in advance.

"By the time there’s an announcement of when the dashboards available point will be it should be a surprise to no one," he clarified.

This comes after the Society of Pension Professionals (SPP) called for the industry to be made aware of an anticipated Dashboards Available Point (DAP) at least 12 months in advance in response to the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) consultation.

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