The majority of pension schemes in the UK will allow citizens to access their data online within the next four years, the government has announced.

The Department for Work and Pensions this week announced that the government will, at the earliest opportunity, table legislation compelling pension providers to make their data available to consumers via a dashboard. Once this passes into law, most firms will be able to launch such a service “within a three- to four-year window”, according to the DWP. Some will launch by the end of 2019.

For its part, the government aims to make information available on citizens state pensions “as soon as possible”.

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The pensions dashboard project has been in the works for several years. HM Treasury was originally scheduled to lead work on the service – which was due to go live in March 2019. On the back of speculation that the dashboard project might be abandoned entirely, it was announced in October 2017 that the initiative would still go ahead – with DWP taking the reins as lead department.

But, in proposals last year, the government indicated that it wished to pursue an approach in which industry led the work on developing the dashboards. The newly published government response to its consultation on the programme reiterated that the state will take on a “facilitating” role.

The pensions industry will be supported by the Single Financial Guidance Body (SFGB) – the new government-backed consumer-advice entity formed that brings under one umbrella Pension Wise, the Pensions Advisory Service, and The Money Advice Service. 

SFGB will also “set important strategic direction and lead on the establishment of a non-commercial dashboard”, Rudd said. 

“Dashboards have the potential to transform the way we all think about and plan for retirement, providing clear and simple information regarding pension savings in one place online. I’m looking forward to seeing the first industry dashboards later this year,” she said.