'Sweden and Australia put us in pensions slow lane'

Britain is stuck in the slow lane, lagging behind countries such as Australia, Sweden and the Netherlands when it comes to a pensions dashboard, the ex-Pensions Minister claims. Steve Webb, the former Coalition Minister, suggested the Government was failing to act quickly enough on introducing a dashboard system for savers, despite announcing a target date of 2019 at the recent Budget.A dashboard would allow individuals to see their pensions in one place and could link consumers with lost pension pots from previous employments. It could also prompt people to seek advice as to whether their pension savings are in the best place.Mr Webb now works as director of policy at Royal London, which has produced a report on the subject to coincide with a major conference being held today. This is bringing together pension experts from Australia, Sweden and the Netherlands.Mr Webb said: “Citizens of countries such as Australia, Sweden and the Netherlands already have the benefit of access to pensions dashboards where they can see all their pensions in one place.“It is unacceptable that the UK is in the slow lane and our savers are being left behind. Getting the many different parties involved to work together in the interests of the consumer is a big job and may even require legislation.“Government has been too hands-off to date and needs to drive this project forward, otherwise savers will continue to have far too little information about their overall pension position”.Royal London called on the Government to “play its part by making sure that state pension information is shown on the Pensions Dashboard and also to be more proactive in pulling together the many interested parties whilst making sure that the needs of consumers are put first”.It stated: “despite years of discussion, the UK is currently only planning to have a Pensions Dashboard in place by 2019, and even then it is not clear that the dashboard will cover all of the many different types of pensions which an individual might hold.“Although the idea of a dashboard was floated by the Financial Conduct Authority in 2014, the recent Budget suggested a 2019 target date for a UK dashboard to be in place. Different government departments and industry groups have been involved in pilot projects linked to the dashboard idea, but so far there has been little co-ordination or clear governance of the project.”

'Sweden and Australia put us in pensions slow lane'

Related items

News from Twitter