Heywood
When pensions dashboards go live, the first step in connecting members to their pension information is ensuring accurate Find Data—personal identifiers that link individuals to their pension records. While Find Data lays the groundwork for dashboards functionality, the focus then shifts to an equally critical element: Value Data.
Why pensions dashboards success is contingent on accurate Value Data
Value Data refers to the information that combines to provide members with outputs such as their current pension value and an estimate of projected retirement income.
Value Data is central to the success of pensions dashboards. Without it, members cannot view accurate pension values, which leads to poor member experiences and administrative challenges for schemes.
For DB schemes with deferred members, this project must be completed by the dashboard's accessibility point (DAP) - a time-consuming, labour-intensive task without the correct tools.
The challenges facing pension schemes with incomplete and inaccurate Value Data
Schemes without complete or accurate Value Data face a significant challenge: they will have just 10 days to provide missing data for some members. Coupled with the potential influx of queries from dashboards users, this could lead to overwhelming pressure on administration teams and actuaries, taking up valuable resources to resolve issues in a short timeframe.
Failure to address these data issues could also result in regulatory compliance challenges. The Pensions Regulator has issued warnings to schemes that fail to meet pensions dashboards requirements, and schemes that do not act now may face scrutiny for neglecting data accuracy ahead of the DAP.
Many schemes have focused their dashboards preparations on Find Data, but Value Data is an equally critical area that could catch schemes off guard if overlooked.
Why should schemes act now?
Budget holders and administrators may wonder why they should prioritise Value Data if the DAP is not yet known. The answer is simple: a Value Data audit cannot be completed overnight.
Accurately auditing, correcting, or creating Value Data requires careful planning and collaboration with calculation experts. Acting now can prevent last-minute crises and ensure compliance when dashboards go live.
Solutions for enriching Value Data
Tools like Heywood’s Calculations Manager can expedite the process by automating complex pension calculations. These tools can build accurate, bulk calculations based on scheme rules, ensuring Value Data is reliable and up to date before dashboards launch.
Taking proactive steps now to audit and enhance Value Data will help schemes avoid bottlenecks and resource strain when dashboards become operational.
