The Pensions Dashboards Regulations 2022

PART 1 General

Citation, commencement and extent

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Pensions Dashboards Regulations 2022.

(2) These Regulations come into force 21 days after the date on which they are made.

(3) These Regulations extend to England and Wales and Scotland.

Interpretation

2.  Schedule 1 (interpretation) contains definitions of terms used in these Regulations.

Application

3.—(1) Part 2 of these Regulations applies—

(a) to a pensions dashboard service(1), other than a pensions dashboard service referred to in section 4A(1) of the Financial Guidance and Claims Act 2018(2), and

(b) to a provider of a pensions dashboard service to which Part 2 of these Regulations applies by virtue of sub-paragraph (a).

(2) Subject to paragraph (4), Parts 3 and 4 of these Regulations apply to a trustee or manager of a relevant occupational pension scheme(3)—

(a) where the scheme existed on the reference date and had 100 or more relevant members on that date,

(b) where the scheme existed on the reference date and had fewer than 100 relevant members on that date, but has 100 or more relevant members on any subsequent date, or

(c) where the scheme was established after the reference date and had 100 or more relevant members on the date it was established, or has 100 or more relevant members on any subsequent date.

(3) These Regulations remain applicable to a relevant occupational pension scheme where they apply by virtue of paragraph (2)(a), (b) or (c), even if the number of relevant members falls below 100, unless the number of relevant members falls to zero.

(4) Parts 3 and 4 of these Regulations do not apply to a trustee or manager of a relevant occupational pension scheme—

(a) if the pension scheme has its main administration outside of Great Britain,

(b) if the pension scheme is a scheme which is not registrable with the Regulator(4), other than a public service pension scheme which is not registrable with the Regulator (in which case Parts 3 and 4 do apply), or

(c) if the pension scheme is a public service pension scheme which is registrable but which relates to persons referred to in regulation 3 of the Civil Service (Other Crown Servants) Pension Scheme Regulations 2016(5).

(5) Subject to paragraph (4), Parts 3 and 4 of these Regulations also apply to a trustee or manager of a relevant occupational pension scheme which has fewer than 100 relevant members but which is permitted to connect on a voluntary basis under regulation 16(1)(b).

Dashboards Available Point

4.—(1) Qualifying pensions dashboard services(6) are to be available for use by the general public from a date to be specified (“the Dashboards Available Point”) in a notice issued by the Secretary of State.

(2) Prior to the Dashboards Available Point, pensions dashboard services are only available for use by individuals who are invited by or on behalf of the Money and Pensions Service to use pensions dashboard services to support testing or service improvements.

(3) The Secretary of State must issue a notice to specify the Dashboards Available Point at least 6 months before the Dashboards Available Point.

(4) Before issuing a notice to specify the Dashboards Available Point, the Secretary of State must be satisfied that the dashboards ecosystem is ready to support widespread use of qualifying pensions dashboard services by the general public—

(a) having regard to any matters that the Secretary of State considers are relevant, and

(b) following consultation with the Money and Pensions Service, the Regulator and the Financial Conduct Authority.

(5) After issuing the notice, the Secretary of State must without delay publish the notice on the gov.uk homepage for the Department for Work and Pensions.

(6) After publishing the notice, the Secretary of State must take all reasonable steps to publicise the Dashboards Available Point.

Oversight of standards

5.  Standards published from time to time by the Money and Pensions Service or by the Regulator or by the Financial Conduct Authority count as standards for the purposes of these Regulations only if—

(a) where standards are published for the first time, they have been approved by the Secretary of State;

(b) where standards have been published before (having been approved by the Secretary of State) and are being published again in amended form—

(i) they have been approved by the Secretary of State, or

(ii) they only contain amendments that in the view of the Money and Pensions Service involve minor technical changes.

(1)

“pensions dashboard service” is defined in section 238A(1) of the Pensions Act 2004 (c. 35).

(2)

2018 c. 10. Section 4A(1) was inserted by section 122 of the Pension Schemes Act 2021 and relates to the pensions dashboard service provided by the Money and Pensions Service (the “single financial guidance body” established by section 1 of that Act).

(3)

“relevant occupational pension scheme” is defined in section 238F(3) of the Pensions Act 2004.

(4)

“the Regulator” is defined in section 318(1) of the Pensions Act 2004.

(5)

S.I. 2016/326, as amended by regulations 3 to 5 of S.I. 2019/906. Regulation 2 of S.I. 2016/326 defines “the agencies” as meaning the Secret Intelligence Service and the Security Service, and defines “GCHQ eligible person” as meaning a person who meets the conditions of eligibility set out in regulation 2A of that instrument.

(6)

“qualifying pensions dashboard service” is defined in section 238A(2) of the Pensions Act 2004.