The People's Pension, West Sussex, England, a U.K. multiemployer defined contribution plan sponsored by B&CE, called Monday for a legal requirement to be placed on commercial providers of online tools that display aggregated information about participants' retirement plans.
The U.K. government closed its consultation period for the online dashboard Monday. It was considering whether to permit more than one dashboard to be delivered by commercial providers rather than just one from the government, as originally intended.
However, the £5 billion ($6.4 billion) People's Pension wants to see a package of measures implemented to ensure that plan participants have a legal right to view all their financial data and that charges are disclosed on the dashboard.
The U.K. government should also create a statutory body to oversee dashboards in the long-term, with the power to set standards.
"Government figures suggest that a huge number of people, up to 18 million, could eventually access pensions dashboards. The opportunities are vast but so is the potential for consumer detriment," said Gregg McClymont, director of policy and external affairs for the People's Pension, in a news release.
Mr. McClymont added: "We're also calling for pensions charges to be disclosed on dashboards from the outset, for consumers to have a clear legal right to all their financial data, and for the creation of a Pensions Dashboards Authority armed with a clear statutory remit to act in the best interest of consumers. This package of measures can strengthen the governance of pensions dashboards in the public's interest."
