The Pensions Dashboard: What It Shows (and What It Misses)

By 31 October 2026, every UK workplace and personal pension scheme in scope must be connected to the government's new pensions dashboards ecosystem — a step towards letting savers see every pension they hold, including the State Pension, in one secure online place. Connection is well underway: as of July 2026, around 85% of pension records are already linked up. But if you're already retired and drawing an income from your pension, there's a detail buried in the small print that's worth knowing now, well before the service opens to the public.

What the pensions dashboard actually is

The pensions dashboards programme, run by the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS), is building a free service — the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard — that will let you log in once, verify your identity through GOV.UK One Login, and see a list of every pension you hold. Alongside it, privately run commercial dashboards are expected to offer the same underlying data through banking apps and other financial platforms.

The idea is straightforward. Most people build up several pensions over a working life, and it's easy to lose track of a workplace scheme from a job you left a decade ago. Pulling everything into one screen should make it far easier to see the full picture before making decisions about retirement income.

How far connection has progressed

Behind the scenes, pension providers and schemes have been connecting to the dashboards ecosystem on a staged timetable set by the Department for Work and Pensions, largest first. Nearly 1,500 schemes and providers have now connected, covering more than 70 million workplace and private pension records — around 85% of those in scope — alongside tens of millions of State Pension records. Every large scheme and provider finished connecting some time ago; what's left is mostly small and medium-sized schemes, working through their own "connect by" dates over the summer and early autumn of 2026. The legal deadline for every scheme to be connected is 31 October 2026.

Connection isn't the same as public access

It's tempting to assume that once schemes are connected, the dashboard opens for business — but connection is only the back-end plumbing. The MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard has been going through consumer testing since 2025: an initial small-scale phase completed in early 2026, followed by a larger second phase now underway involving thousands of members of the public. Early feedback has been positive, with testers particularly valuing being able to see all their pensions in one place for the first time.

Despite that progress, the programme has now confirmed that public access — officially the "Dashboards Availability Point" — isn't expected before the 2027/28 financial year, later than the "late 2026 or early 2027" many commentators were pencilling in only a few months ago. A further update is due around the October 2026 connection deadline, once more real-world testing has taken place. In short: connection is nearly done, but logging in to see your own pensions is still some way off.

The gap that matters if you're already in drawdown

Here's the detail that gets far less attention: even once the dashboard does open to the public, it hasn't been designed to show pensions that are already being paid. The current scope focuses on pensions you haven't yet accessed — the sort of dormant pots the dashboard is really built to reunite you with. Pensions already in payment, including many annuities in payment and funds already moved into drawdown, are expected to sit outside that initial scope.

This isn't a minor technical footnote. The industry group that advises the programme has flagged the gap as a real problem in its own words, warning that excluding pensions in payment means the dashboard "will have limited value for a growing number of savers already in decumulation," and pushing for a firm timetable to add them as a fast-follower enhancement. For anyone already taking an income from drawdown, that means the dashboard's headline promise of seeing all your pensions in one place won't, at least initially, extend to the income you're currently living on.

The practical takeaway: don't wait for the dashboard to give you a complete retirement picture if you're already retired. You'll still need to keep track of pensions in payment directly with your own provider, alongside whatever the dashboard eventually shows about pots you haven't touched.

What to do between now and public launch

• Don't wait to chase old pensions. If you suspect you have a lost or forgotten pot, the free government Pension Tracing Service already exists and doesn't require the dashboard to be public.
• Keep your own paperwork up to date. Note down provider names, policy numbers and current valuations for every pension you hold, including any already in payment — a simple list is more useful today than a dashboard that won't launch for some time yet.
• Think carefully before consolidating. Once the dashboard reveals pots you'd forgotten about, resist the urge to combine everything automatically. Some older pensions carry guarantees or features that a modern SIPP can't replicate, so check before you transfer.
• Remember the dashboard is a finder, not a planner. It will tell you what you have; it won't tell you whether your income is sustainable, how it's taxed, or how it fits with other pensions and savings in the household. That's a job for a wider retirement plan.

Whether you are tracking down old pensions or already managing an income in drawdown, it helps to see the whole picture in one place. Use our retirement planner to map out how your pensions and savings could work together, compare drawdown providers on fees and features, or get in touch if you would like to talk it through.