Pensions dashboards: what the October 2026 deadline means for advisers
The connection deadline is confirmed. The public launch isn't. What's actually happening, when found pots might reach your diary, and what to prepare in the meantime.
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Pensions dashboards have been "coming soon" for most of a decade, and 31 October 2026 is the legal deadline that now matters most. It's also the date most likely to be misreported. If you've seen headlines implying clients will be able to see their pensions in one place this autumn, they won't. What happens on 31 October is that the last schemes have to finish connecting. The public front end comes later, and nobody has named the day.
We sell appointments to advisers, and selling advisers a trend before it exists is a quick way to lose their trust. So this post sticks to what's confirmed, flags what isn't, and focuses on what an advice firm can sensibly do in the gap.
Are pensions dashboards live yet?
The infrastructure is largely live. The consumer service isn't.
The Pensions Dashboards Regulations 2022, amended in 2023, replaced the original staging dates with a single legal deadline: every in-scope scheme and provider must connect by 31 October 2026. DWP's staged "connect by" timetable, which ran through 2025 and 2026, is guidance that schemes have to have regard to (DWP connection guidance).
Progress has been steady. The Pensions Dashboards Programme's July 2026 progress update reported more than 70 million workplace and personal pension records connected, about 85% of those in scope, across nearly 1,500 schemes and providers. State Pension records sit on top of that.
What the public will actually use is the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard. The Money and Pensions Service still expects it to open in financial year 2027/28, which runs from April 2027 to March 2028. PDP's September 2026 update kept that window. The Secretary of State sets the date, industry gets six months' notice, and a further timing update is planned around the October deadline (PDP, 17 September 2026).
What's the timeline, date by date?
| When | What | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 2025–2026 | Schemes connect in stages, largest first | Done for most: ~85% of records by July 2026 |
| 31 October 2026 | Final legal connection deadline for in-scope schemes and providers | Confirmed |
| Around October 2026 | MaPS / PDP timing update on the public launch | Planned |
| April 2027 – March 2028 | MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard opens to the public | Expected, not dated; six months' notice |
| After MoneyHelper | Commercial dashboards from FCA-authorised firms | Planned; FCA rules in PS24/15 |
| Not announced | Delegated access for regulated advisers | Provided for in the rules; outside the first iterations |
| From 2030 (aim) | Default consolidators for dormant workplace pots of £1,000 or less | Separate policy; DWP consulting |
On commercial dashboards: the FCA set the rules for "pensions dashboard service firms" in PS24/15 in November 2024. Legal & General has announced a dashboard built with Moneyhub, and Scottish Widows has described becoming an operator as its next step. Those are company plans. None is a live service or evidence of permission.
What will a dashboard show a client (and what won't it do)?
For each pension a connected scheme finds, the user should see:
- The provider or scheme name and contact details
- The type of pension
- An accrued value, where the scheme provides one
- An estimated retirement income (ERI) at the scheme's retirement date
- State Pension information
It won't show pensions already in payment, and it can't transfer, consolidate or make any transaction. It's a find-and-view service (The Pensions Regulator).
Two things will matter in your first meetings. The ERI figures come from each scheme's own assumptions, so a client who adds them up will get a number that doesn't match your cashflow model. Expect to explain why. And the data is only as good as the schemes' records. The dashboards project has pushed schemes to clean their data, but mismatches and "possible matches" will still turn up.
The piece advisers ask about most is delegated access: letting a client authorise their adviser to see their dashboard. DWP's rules provide for it, but PDP said in November 2025 that it's outside the first iterations, and no date has been given. Don't build a process that depends on it. For now, letters of authority and the client's own screenshots remain the route.
How big is the lost-pot problem?
Big in aggregate, small per pot. The most-cited figure is the Pensions Policy Institute's October 2024 estimate of nearly 3.3 million lost pots worth £31.1 billion, where "lost" means the provider has lost contact with the owner (PPI). Divide one by the other and the average lost pot is roughly £9,500. PPI's next estimate, extended to defined benefit schemes, is due in October 2026.
Three warnings on the numbers you'll see quoted:
- A PensionBee/Cebr survey in 2024 found 19% of UK adults believed they had certainly or probably lost a pot. That's people's belief, not a count of pots.
- Other firms publish much higher "unclaimed pensions" totals using different definitions. Don't add them to the PPI figure.
- The "11 jobs in a lifetime" statistic is about jobs, not pensions. It doesn't mean the average person has 11 pots.
For clients with large pensions, the lost pot itself may not be the main event. To take an illustrative case, someone with £400,000 across four pensions who finds a fifth worth £9,000 hasn't changed their retirement much. What the dashboard might change is their attention: seeing their found, in-scope pensions in one place, with an income estimate next to each, is a prompt to ask whether the whole picture makes sense.
Will dashboards create a consolidation wave?
The trade press expects more demand. FTAdviser reported in July 2026 that dashboards could increase demand for advice, and an October 2025 feature urged advisers to prepare for found-pot and consolidation enquiries. Money Marketing reported in May 2026 that the Pensions Commission expects greater engagement and consolidation. Those are forecasts. Nobody has measured a dashboard effect, because there's no public dashboard to measure.
A few things make us cautious about the word "wave":
- Timing. The official window for the public launch is April 2027 to March 2028, with no date set. Our assumption is that early use will be modest while people learn the service exists, but nobody has measured that.
- Current demand is flat or falling. Our UK search data (DataForSEO) shows searches for pension consolidation fell from about 1,600 a month to 720 over the past 12 months, and "should I consolidate my pensions" runs at about 1,000 a month. A dashboard could reverse that. It hasn't happened yet.
- Some consolidation will happen without advisers. Providers already run pension-finding and transfer tools, and the small pots reforms will sweep up the tiniest pots automatically from around 2030.
- Consolidation isn't always right. Guaranteed annuity rates, protected tax-free cash, safeguarded benefits and exit charges all need checking. That's the argument for advice, and it's also why the regulator watches consolidation advice closely.
For context, the FCA's 2025 survey of advice firms found consolidation was the main objective for 13% of advised clients (FCA). Dashboards may push that up. As a planning assumption, we'd allow for a gradual rise once the public dashboard is open, and treat anything faster as upside.
What should advisers prepare now?
The useful thing about a six-month notice period is that you'll see it coming. Most of the preparation is process, and none of it needs spending on marketing yet.
- Fact-find intake. Decide how you'll take a client's dashboard view into your fact-find: screenshots, a printout, or a form. Make sure your data-protection notices cover it.
- A found-pot checklist. A standard list for each pot a client brings: provider, type, value, any guarantees, protected tax-free cash, safeguarded benefits, exit charges, current charges. Your paraplanner will thank you.
- An ERI explainer. A short paragraph for clients on why dashboard income estimates differ from your cashflow projections.
- Pricing for small pots. Decide in advance whether you'll advise on a £9,000 found pot for an existing client, and on what fee basis. Consolidation of small pots can easily cost more in adviser time than it saves.
- Existing clients first. Engaged clients may well be early users. Tell them what it is, and that you'd like to see anything it turns up.
- Watch for the notice. When the six-month notice lands, that's the time to plan website content, client emails and capacity.
One thing not to do: don't tell prospects you'll be able to "see all their pensions" through the dashboard. It only shows found, in-scope pensions, and with delegated access outside the first iterations, it isn't a promise you can keep.
When will dashboards hit your pipeline?
Probably not in the next 12 months, since the public dashboard isn't expected to open before April 2027 at the earliest. The three rule changes advisers are watching run on very different clocks. The last column is our planning assumption, not measured data:
| Change | Status at 27 September 2026 | Pipeline effect (our assumption) |
|---|---|---|
| Pensions and IHT | Law; applies to deaths from 6 April 2027 | Now, in spikes around news (IHT 2027 guide) |
| Targeted support | Live since 6 April 2026; nine firms authorised | Unknown; no referral data yet (targeted support explained) |
| Pensions dashboards | Connection deadline 31 Oct 2026; public launch expected 2027/28, not dated | Not before the public launch (expected April 2027 to March 2028) |
If you're deciding where to spend time this winter, the IHT change is the one with clients calling now. Dashboards are a process project to finish before the notice arrives.
Where do booked appointments fit?
Consolidation and "I've lost track of my pensions" are already among the most common reasons people want to see an adviser, dashboard or no dashboard. That's the demand we built InvestmentsBooked around, so we're not neutral on this part.
Every InvestmentsBooked appointment is with a UK saver who self-declares £250k–£3m in defined contribution pensions (reconfirmed on the call) and has been told advice is paid for. The prospect asks us to book them with one FCA-authorised independent firm. We share their answers with that one firm only, and we tell them the firm's name and FRN as soon as it claims the booking, before the call. The brief shows how many pots they have, the pension types (including any SIPP or final salary pension), and whether "combining my pensions" is on their list. People looking to transfer a final salary pension are excluded by default; we explain why in why we exclude DB transfers. Whether consolidating is right is your recommendation to make. We don't advise, fact-find or suggest products.
You pay £500 per qualified show (no VAT added), and no-shows are credited back. The details are on pension appointments, pricing and how it works, and the other three kinds of meeting we book are on appointment types. What counts as a qualified show is set out on lead quality.
Sources and checks. Connection deadline: DWP staged timetable guidance. Progress and launch timing: Pensions Dashboards Programme July 2026 progress update, 17 September 2026 update and 11 August 2026 webinar answers. Delegated access: PDP, 18 November 2025. Commercial dashboards: FCA PS24/15; L&G (September 2024) and Scottish Widows announcements. View data: The Pensions Regulator. Lost pots: PPI Lost Pensions 2024 (average per pot derived by us); PensionBee/Cebr (2024). Small pots: TPR on the Pension Schemes Act 2026 and DWP's September 2026 consultation. Commentary: FTAdviser (October 2025, July 2026), Money Marketing (May 2026). Search volumes: DataForSEO Google Ads data, UK, pulled September 2026. Client objectives: FCA 2025 advice firms survey. Figures checked 27 September 2026. InvestmentsBooked is not authorised by the FCA and does not give financial advice.