According to Vahey, dashboards had the potential to empower pension savers but they have been badly let down by a project that has over-promised and under-delivered.
Vahey also argued that the government has "fumbled this opportunity" and let down UK pension savers.
“Developing pensions dashboards was always an ambitious project," she added. "To be effective it had to show someone all their pension savings – but that meant including all private pension schemes, public sector schemes and state pensions.
“The government should have got this right from the start. But they have now effectively pulled the plug just weeks before connection was due to start.”
Welcomed by some
However, Nigel Peaple, director of policy and advocacy at the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association, welcomed the move by the government.
He said pensions dashboards have the potential to help everyone in the UK far better understand pensions by enabling them to see all their pensions - state pension, workplace pensions, and private pensions - on line and in one place.
“But it is an enormous task involving a complex central architecture to be built by government, the connection of tens of thousands of pension schemes, and the identification of millions of people," he said.
“We welcome the government’s promise to ensure that, once the current issues with the central digital architecture are resolved, the industry will be given adequate time and technical information to play its part in this endeavour.
“Today’s announcement that the project will be delayed, apparently by several months, is disappointing but it is the right decision. The government is wise to prioritise doing the job well rather doing it in a rush which would result in a bad outcome for the pension industry and savers.”
