Embracing digital, data and technology (DDaT) is an important way the pensions industry can boost saver outcomes and help grow the economy. Paul Neville, Executive Director of DDaT at The Pensions Regulator (TPR), explains how we are supporting this with the creation of a new industry working group. 

There is a justified buzz around digital, data and technology (DDaT) with artificial intelligence (AI), particularly generative AI, capturing headlines. 

At TPR, we want to face and embrace our changing world by working with industry to drive better saver outcomes, while also reducing unnecessary regulatory burden on pension schemes. Our focus is to protect savers’ money, while also enhancing the pensions market and supporting innovation in the interests of savers. 

Our DDaT strategy describes our plan and approach for doing this. We aim to: 

• adapt our regulatory approaches and ways of working to support innovation, and reduce unnecessary regulatory burden, whilst protecting savers’ money 

• help raise industry standards around data quality and administration 

• work with industry to enable the development of innovative products, such as new decumulation tools, which help savers make high-stakes decisions about their pension pots. 

But we cannot and do not want to do all this alone. By working together, we will deliver an ecosystem with less friction and new opportunities. Our approach is adaptive and collaborative, with savers at the heart of our vision.

Developing the future together – Pensions Data and Digital Working Group

To realise this ambition, we plan to launch a Pensions Data and Digital Working Group. 

We expect this cross-sector initiative to become a pivotal force in shaping a key enabler for the future of the pensions industry.  

We welcome voices from across the pension ecosystem, especially those bringing fresh perspectives, lived experience, and new ideas. Whether these voices belong to tech innovators, trustees, or data specialists, we believe diverse insight will help us address some of the sector’s most pressing challenges – from data quality and regulatory efficiency to digital integration and innovation.  

We also welcome those from other sectors, academia or civil society who can bring a novel or new perspective to our industry. 

Data challenges

We have listened carefully to the industry’s concerns about data challenges.  

At a TPR roundtable earlier this year, industry representatives, including professional trustees, regulators and pension administrators, highlighted the hurdles pension schemes face, as well as the opportunities for positive change.  

The challenges include poor data quality, the cost of improving this, and regulatory hurdles which some find difficult. Saver financial literacy and inertia are barriers to decision-making, and there is an opportunity for digital approaches to help tackle these. 

There is still a substantial amount of pensions data not in digital form – we know one-quarter of schemes hold some form of non-digital data. We must work together to resolve this. 

With most people used to checking their bank balance in seconds on their smartphone, the fact 35% of schemes do not provide online information to all their members about the value of their pension pot may come as a surprise to savers contributing part of their hard-earned salary towards a pension each month. 

In the modern world, savers expect instant access to pensions information, but, while the Pensions Dashboards Programme will deliver improvements, we are still too far away from achieving the digital access other industries take for granted.  

For millions of savers, better data combined with saver-focused digital solutions will mean clearer choices, fewer risks and more confidence in their financial future. 

Our survey of administrators shows where more work is needed. Fewer than two-fifths of administrators had an IT or technology strategy or roadmap and 14% cite system restrictions or a lack of suitable technology as a significant challenge to them providing a high-quality administration service. 

Opportunities

The pensions sector has numerous opportunities to embrace digital, data, and technology – particularly through better use and management of data and responsibly deploying new technologies such as AI. This is important because: 

• open standards for data can support near real-time monitoring and trend identification 

• enhanced data quality and embracing best practices could reduce costs, increase efficiency and help shine a light on bad practices and identify scams 

• better benchmarking and analytics will enable more meaningful performance comparisons 

• it could simplify reporting to us in TPR, streamlining it, reducing the burden and becoming more outcome-oriented. 

With pensions dashboards on the horizon, it has never been a better time for the industry to get to grips with its data and enable the conditions for innovation in the interests of savers. 

Through the working group and our innovation service, we aim to help schemes identify opportunities. For example, we can harness preparation for dashboards as a springboard for establishing the importance of data in creating the conditions for innovation, transparency and regulatory effectiveness.  

Research indicates Open Banking has benefited the economy by £4 billion by helping businesses and individuals manage their money in innovative ways. We want innovation in pensions to have an impact just as large.  

We aim to launch our working group in the autumn. It will not just be a consultative body but an opportunity to work together to shape how data, digital and technology can contribute to oversight, standards, and accountability. We want it to be agile, inclusive, and aligned with the evolving needs of the pension ecosystem. 

Together, we will collaborate on: 

• open standards for data 

• enhancing data sharing 

• prioritising digital integration, making use of the latest technology while promoting cultural change. 

At our roundtable, we listened when we were told this group should have strong governance and a clear scope. We want it to be action-orientated, focused on collaboratively delivering change which benefits schemes and savers.  

It will be grappling with complex issues, but we also expect it to target practical solutions and quick wins. 

If you would like to express an interest in helping innovate in savers’ interests by joining this group, I urge you to contact us by completing our online form.  

Roles are unpaid, and we expect, following the first meeting, further sessions would be held online.