Debate contribution: The Pensions Dashboards (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023
Debate contribution by Mr Gordon Lyons on .
- MLA
- Mr Gordon Lyons
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 28 May 2024
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Executive Committee Business
- Heading
- The Pensions Dashboards (No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4492116
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I beg to move
This rule is the current replacement —.
Sorry.
This rule is the replacement for the original regulations that came into operation on 12 December 2022. As the regulations require the approval of the Assembly, they have been revoked and replaced on a couple of occasions, otherwise they would have expired at the end of the six-month period from the date that they came into operation. The rule provides the framework within which pensions dashboards will operate. Pensions dashboard services are an electronic communications service that will allow individuals to see their pensions information, including the state pension, in one place online. One of the impacts of changing work patterns and automatic enrolment is that there has been an increase in the number of people with multiple pension pots. With the passage of time, those people can lose track of one or more of their pensions. The regulations introduce requirements that will bring the pensions dashboard services into operation. The aim is to make it easier for people to access their pensions information, which will help to improve individuals' awareness and understanding of their pension and estimated retirement income. Organisations that wish to provide a pensions dashboard service will have their pensions dashboard service exist alongside the pensions dashboard service that is to be provided by the Money and Pensions Service. The regulations introduce provisions that providers of dashboard services are required to abide by in order to be considered a qualifying pensions dashboard service. Providers must also have permission from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to operate in that capacity. The regulations require relevant occupational pension schemes to connect to the dashboards ecosystem and be ready to respond to data requests by the connection deadline of 31 October 2026 and in the correct data format. They also set out the requirements for organisations that wish to provide a pensions dashboard service.
They will help to ensure that pensions dashboard services can be introduced safely and within a reasonable time frame. The delivery of pensions dashboards needs to be both timely and operationally manageable. Pensions dashboard guidance on the staged timetable for relevant occupational pension schemes to connect to the pensions dashboards ecosystem by 31 October 2026 is available on my Department's website. By prioritising the largest pension schemes for connection to the Money and Pensions Service architecture before smaller schemes, the aim is for a comprehensive dashboard service to be available to the public at the earliest opportunity, whilst ensuring that the requirements are achievable for the pensions industry. The regulations provide that qualifying pensions dashboard services are to be made available to the general public from the dashboard's available point. That will be the date specified in a notice issued in accordance with the regulations. The regulations also set out the various requirements that pensions dashboard services and the providers of those services will need to meet and continue to meet to be qualifying pensions dashboard services. For example, the requirements will include adherence to standards set by the Money and Pensions Service. Failure to comply with certain standards will result in a qualifying pensions dashboard service being disconnected from the dashboards ecosystem. The regulations set out the requirements that are imposed on trustees or managers of relevant occupational pensions systems. For example, they outline how schemes must cooperate with and connect to the Money and Pensions Service architecture to fulfil their duties in relation to matching an individual with their data. The regulations also set out what schemes must do to provide an individual with their pension information when requested. Dashboards will present individuals with relatively high-level pension information. It will not be possible, for example, to transact, transfer or consolidate through the digital architecture. On receiving an individual's request to find their pension information from the dashboard's digital architecture, schemes must provide administrative data to the individual. That includes basic information about the pension, including how an individual can contact their scheme. The individual will then see information about the value of their pension both as an accrued value and as an illustration of a projected retirement income. State pension information will also be displayed, giving individuals a full picture of their pensions. Contextual information and signpost data will sit alongside those values to help users to understand the information that is displayed. The regulations also set out a robust and effective enforcement regime that allows the Pensions Regulator to take appropriate enforcement action in the case of a failure to adhere to any of the proposed requirements and provides a significant deterrent to non-compliance. The regulations enable the Money and Pensions Service to share information with the Pensions Regulator in connection with its function under the regulations. That will support the Money and Pensions Service and the regulator in their pensions dashboard programme and compliance roles respectively and support the secure delivery of the ecosystem and pensions dashboard services. The Data Protection Act 2018 and UK general data protection duties continue to apply to the sharing of information about an individual. The aim of the pension dashboard is to make it easier for people to access their pension information, including their state pension, which will help to improve individuals' awareness and understanding of their pension and their estimated retirement income.
878 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.01 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.01 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.48 | No |
| Overall judgement | 0.01 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 1.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
| Sport (including the GAA), the arts and cultural bodies | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:28 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
Disagree with this assessment?
Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.