What the pensions dashboard means for savers

Many people lose track of a pension or two over a working life of changing jobs. Dashboards will let them find those pots, alongside their state pension, in one secure place online. They’ll see where each pension is held and what it might be worth. 

The timetable has been taking shape. Every pension provider and scheme in scope should now be connected to the dashboards ecosystem, as the final connection deadline was 31st October 2026. The Pensions Dashboards Programme (PDP) expects the first public dashboard, run by MoneyHelper, to open in the 2027/28 financial year. Industry will get six months’ notice of the launch date. 

That gives firms a valuable window.  

Dashboards could make a real difference to savers, and the communications around them will be key to making that happen. Much of the readiness work so far has focused on connection: whether data is clean and the link to the ecosystem has passed testing. That work is essential.  

Before dashboards go live, it’s just as critical to make sure people will understand what they find. 

Why understanding matters as much as access 

Here is the fact that shapes everything else: providers don’t write the dashboard. PDP, part of the Money and Pensions Service, sets the data standards that govern what information providers return and in what format. It is also developing design standards for how that information is presented on dashboards. Providers don’t control the wording or the layout on screen. 

So a provider’s communications work can’t happen on the dashboard itself. It happens in everything around it, from the letters behind each pot to the conversations customers have when they call. 

Seeing everything in one place is a big step forward, and it will naturally prompt questions. Customers may need extra help with things like: 

• several pots on one screen, showing figures that aren’t directly comparable 

• a number that’s hard to relate to, so they can’t tell whether it’s a lot or a little 

• terms that are familiar inside the industry but not outside it, such as transfer value or accrued benefits 

• not knowing what, if anything, they should do next 

Dashboards will be view only, so when customers are ready to act on what they see, they’ll turn to their provider. That’s a real opportunity to use the dashboards and the engagement they bring to help people take the next step with confidence. 

Preparing customer communications for the pensions dashboard 

For comms and marketing teams, this is a chance to make the most of better engagement. Your communications need to answer customers’ questions in a way that sits comfortably alongside what they saw on the dashboard, and point them to what happens next. 

For colleagues supporting customers in vulnerable circumstances, the stakes are higher. Around half of UK adults have numeracy at or below primary school level (National Numeracy). A dashboard can surface a forgotten pot or an unexpected figure without warning, and someone already under pressure may need more time and support to make sense of it. 

None of this is about rewriting the dashboard. It’s about making sure the communications you do control are clear enough to carry customers from what they’ve seen to what they do next. 

Ben Perkins, our Director of Partnerships and Services at Plain Numbers shares, “Pensions dashboards are a real step forward, and we’re excited about what they could do for savers. Seeing all your pensions in one place is powerful, but only if the numbers make sense and people can understand what providers tell them outside the dashboard.“ 

Making pension numbers easier to understand 

Here are some principles you and your team can apply to communications, with or without the dashboard changes:  

Give numbers context, not just accuracy. A figure can be correct and still mean little to the reader. Explain what it represents and give it a reference point they already understand. 

Don’t assume familiarity with pensions terms. If a term needs explaining, explain it.  

Test with real customers. What seems clear to the team that wrote it often isn’t to the person reading it. Testing journeys that include using the dashboard shows where understanding breaks down between it and your communications, so you can put it right. 

Make the next step explicit. If a customer needs to act, say what to do and how. If they don’t need to do anything, say that too. 

Putting pension communications to the test

We tested a typical pension wake-up pack summary page with YouGov, alongside a version rewritten using the Plain Numbers Method. We’ll share the results at our webinar, Raising the Bar on Customer Understanding, on 17th November.