Pensions Administration Standards Association publishes dashboards toolkit

The Pensions Administration Standards Association (PASA) has released a dashboards toolkit aimed at helping trustees, scheme managers and providers use warnings and unavailable codes more consistently on pensions dashboards. 

The toolkit was put together by the PASA Dashboards Working Group (PDWG), in consultation with the Pensions Dashboards Programme and the Money and Pensions Service. 

It is designed to give practical support for handling situations where accurate pension value data cannot be shown straight away.

Maurice Titley, chair of the PDWG, said: “Dashboards are one of the most important developments in pensions for decades, and ensuring they deliver a clear, consistent experience for savers is crucial. 

“The use of warnings and unavailable codes may seem technical, but applied incorrectly they can undermine confidence and generate unnecessary queries. 

“This Toolkit provides practical guidance to help administrators and providers make the right decisions and keep dashboards user-friendly, accurate and reliable.”

Geraldine Brassett, chair of the PDWG’s scheme configuration sub-group, said: “The Toolkit offers clarity on when to apply specific Unavailable codes (e.g. pending calculations, outstanding transactions, new joiners, AVCs, or schemes in wind-up), good practice in the use of Warning codes (e.g. deferred benefits, scheme pays adjustments, earmarking/sharing orders, underpin benefits), supporting savers where value data can’t be updated immediately, including alignment with regulatory 3/10-day service level agreements, and ensuring communication strategies anticipate and explain dashboard delays or exceptions. 

“This latest Toolkit continues PASA’s mission to provide the pensions industry with pragmatic, detailed guidance which supports compliance while putting the saver experience first. 

“We encourage all trustees, administrators and providers to use it as a reference point to help deliver a dashboards experience which works as intended, giving savers confidence in the information they see.”