On 1 November 2022, the FCA published Policy Statement 22/12 ‘Pensions Dashboards rules for pension providers – feedback on CP22/3 and our final rules and guidance’ (PS22/12).
Pensions dashboards have the potential to benefit consumers in several ways. By equipping people with basic information about the pensions they have, consumers may find it easier to plan for retirement, get advice or guidance, and ultimately make informed decisions. Encouraging consumers to better engage with their pensions is one of the FCA’s priorities.
In PS22/12 the FCA sets out final rules which satisfies the duty placed on it under the Pensions Schemes Act 2021 to make rules requiring FCA regulated pension providers to provide and enable information about personal and stakeholder pensions to be provided for pensions dashboards. The FCA also sets out in PS22/12 is feedback to the responses to its earlier consultation (a summary of where the FCA has deviated from its consultation proposals can be found in para 1.31 of PS22/12).
The aim of the new rules is to ensure that regulated pension providers:
- Search their records for information on pensions relating to the consumer (‘find’ requests).
- Give consumers relevant consistent pensions information to view on dashboards, in specified timeframes.
The FCA may take action against firms who do not comply with the new requirements. In some cases, non-compliance could lead to enforcement action.
In summary, the FCA’s new rules require that by 31 August 2023 FCA regulated pension providers must:
- Complete connection of their personal and stakeholder pension schemes to the Money and Pensions Service’s (MaPS) digital architecture in line with MaPS’ connection, security and technical standards and having regard to MaPS’ guidance on connection.
- Be ready to receive requests to find pensions, and search records for data matches.
- Be ready to return pensions information to the consumer’s chosen pensions dashboard (‘view’ data).
