PERG 12A.3 Operating a pensions dashboard service
1Q3. What is the regulated activity in relation to pensions dashboard services?
The regulated activity in relation to pensions dashboard services is found in article 89BA of the Regulated Activities Order, which provides: ‘operating a pensions dashboard service which connects to the Money and Pensions Service dashboards digital architecture is a specified kind of activity’. This regulated activity is referred to in the glossary as regulated pensions dashboard activity.
Q4. What is a pensions dashboard service?
A pensions dashboard service is a secure digital interface that will allow consumers to find their pensions that are not yet in payment and view basic information about them in one place. For the purposes of the regulated activity, ‘pensions dashboard service’ has the same meaning as in section 238A(1) of the Pensions Act 2004, where it is defined as ‘an electronic communications service by means of which information about pensions may be requested by, and provided to, an individual or a person authorised by the individual’.
Q5. What does ‘which connects to the Money and Pensions Service dashboards digital architecture’ mean?
The MaPS dashboards digital architecture means the information technology systems delivered by or on behalf of the Money and Pensions Service which enable the MaPS pensions dashboards ecosystem to work. The MaPS Pensions Dashboards Ecosystem is the interconnected system which enables pensions dashboard services to work and comprises:
• the pensions dashboard services;
• the interfaces of the relevant pensions schemes which connect to the MaPS dashboards digital architecture;
• the interfaces of the relevant pension schemes that connect to the pensions dashboard services; and
• any other party or service that needs to be connected in order for the system to work.
Each individual pensions dashboard service will have a separate connection to the MaPS dashboards digital ecosystem.
Q6. Who needs to be authorised?
Persons who operate a pensions dashboard service will need to be (or to become) FCA authorised or vary their permission to undertake regulated pensions dashboard activity.
Q7. What is involved in operating a pensions dashboard service?
The regulated activity in article 89BA of the Regulated Activities Order refers to ‘operating’ a pensions dashboard service which connects to the MaPS dashboards digital architecture.
The Regulated Activities Order does not attempt to define the word ‘operating’ for the purposes of the regulated activity in article 89BA. The explanatory memorandum to the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) Order 2024 says that ‘operating a dashboard may include taking regulatory responsibility for any third parties involved in connecting to the MaPS digital architecture on their behalf’. Ultimately, it will be for the courts to determine its meaning. In the FCA’s view, the term ‘operating’ should be given its ordinary meaning. It is the FCA’s view, therefore, that ‘operating’ means to control the pensions dashboard service. There are other references in the Regulated Activities Order to ‘operating’. The FCA has provided guidance on some of those references – for example, in PERG 12, Q4 – which is consistent with the view the FCA has taken on the meaning of ‘operating’ for the purposes of article 89BA of the Regulated Activities Order.
In determining whether a person is in control of a particular pensions dashboard service, it is the FCA’s view that the person who accepts responsibility for it will be in control of that particular pensions dashboard service. Therefore, the operator will be the person accepting responsibility for:
• compliance with our rules;
• compliance with the pensions dashboard standards and the Dashboard Regulations;
• individual customers; and
• the connection to the MaPS dashboards digital architecture, including where a third party connects to the MaPS dashboards digital architecture on their behalf.
This is consistent with the explanatory memorandum to the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) Order 2024.
It follows, therefore, that an operator of a pensions dashboard service may or may not be the person that actually connects their particular pensions dashboard service to the MaPS dashboards digital architecture; the connection may be made by another person on their behalf. Instead, it is the person that remains responsible for the connection, and not the person actually connecting, that will be considered the operator, and would therefore be registered with the Money and Pensions Service as the operator of that particular pensions dashboard service.
It is also the FCA’s view that a fundamental element of control is that a person has the authority to decide and direct how the pensions dashboard service is managed or run, with the ability to direct any third party carrying out activities or services to support the pensions dashboard service with whom they have an arrangement. So where the person with authority to decide and direct how the dashboard is managed and run outsources activities or services to a third party, or purchases a product from a third party that meets their requirements and is a part of the running of the service, that third party will not become the operator of the pensions dashboard service as they won’t decide and direct how the pensions dashboard service is managed or run (see further guidance in Q8).
Q8. Who is operating the pensions dashboard service if activities/services that may involve ensuring the pensions dashboard service continues to run on a day-to-day basis are provided by third parties?
As explained in Q7, the person who takes responsibility for a particular pensions dashboard service and/or has the authority to decide and direct how it is managed or run, will be the person in control of and operating it. In some circumstances, however, there may be outsourcing arrangements in place with third parties, or the person responsible may purchase a product from a third party that meets their requirements. This could include, for example, the provision of technical services to ensure that the pensions dashboard service can function and remain connected to the MaPS dashboards digital architecture. In such circumstances, the person who retains responsibility for the particular pensions dashboard service, and/or with the authority to decide and direct how the pensions dashboard service is managed or run, with the ability to direct the third party providing the technical services, will remain the operator and the person who is carrying on regulated pensions dashboard activity. The third party will not be operating the pensions dashboard service so long as they do not take any responsibility for it and because they act under the direction and decision making of the operator. In such arrangements, the apportionment of responsibility, and clarity around who has the authority to make decisions and direct, could be achieved by contractual terms and conditions ensuring that responsibility and high-level decision making/direction is assumed by one person such that they are the only person considered to be carrying on regulated pensions dashboard activity in relation to the particular pensions dashboard service. This will still be the case even if the third party takes decisions around technical details needed to achieve the high-level objectives set by the person engaging the third party or purchasing their product.
Q9. Where there is more than one person involved, which person is required to be authorised?
As explained in Q8, there may be several parties involved in the development, production or functioning of a particular pensions dashboard service. The person, or persons, who are operating the particular pensions dashboard service, as explained in Q7, will need Part 4A permission for regulated pensions dashboard activity. In some cases, only one person will be operating the pensions dashboard service and therefore only that person will need Part 4A permission (see Example 1 below). In some cases, there may be more than one person operating the pensions dashboard service – for example, if there is more than one person who is responsible for the particular pensions dashboard service and/or has authority to decide and direct how it is managed or run.
Q10. Are there other activities that relate to the pensions dashboard service that do not amount to operating that pensions dashboard service?
In our view, providing the following services in and of themselves is unlikely to amount to regulated pensions dashboard activity because it is unlikely these activities amount to operating the particular pensions dashboard service:
(1) consultation services – for example, where a consultant advises their clients on how to undertake consumer research to inform design, how to develop their business case and how to prepare an application for FCA authorisation;
(2) providing a publicly available link (for example, on a website) to a qualifying pensions dashboard service that is clearly operated by another person (who will therefore need to be a firm authorised to operate it); or
(3) providing a link to the publicly available MaPS pensions dashboard service.
Q11. Can you give some examples of what is and what is not operating a pensions dashboard service?
The following are examples of the FCA’s view of what is and what is not operating a pensions dashboard service.
Example 1
A person (Person A), develops and produces a pensions dashboard service. Person A connects that particular pensions dashboard service to the MaPS dashboards digital architecture, and takes responsibility for compliance with the Dashboard Regulations, the pensions dashboard standards and our rules. In this example, Person A is operating the pensions dashboard service and will need Part 4A permission to undertake regulated pensions dashboard activity.
Example 2 – consultancy service
Person A (in Example 1) engages a third party, Person B, when developing and designing its pensions dashboard service, to provide advice in relation to, for example, how to use consumer research to inform design, how best to develop its business case and how to ensure compliance with the Dashboard Regulations and the pensions dashboard standards. Person B does not make decisions in relation to how the pensions dashboard service is managed or run, nor does it have direct involvement or interaction with the pensions dashboard service. The service provided by Person B is advisory only. It is therefore unlikely that Person B will need Part 4A permission for regulated pensions dashboard activity as it is unlikely to be operating a pensions dashboard service for the purposes of the regulated activity. As per Example 1, Person A will be operating the pensions dashboard service.
Example 3 – licensed technical service or product
Person C develops and builds the software which is necessary for a pensions dashboard service to function and which will enable the connection to the MaPS dashboards digital architecture. Person C allows Person D to use or purchase the use of that software – for example, by way of a licence agreement.
Under the agreement, Person D has the authority to direct Person C to make changes to software that supports the pensions dashboard service. This includes resolving issues which need correcting or improving in order to continue to meet the relevant requirements for which Person D has accepted responsibility. Person C must follow those instructions. Person C may facilitate the connection of the particular pensions dashboard service to the MaPS pensions dashboard digital architecture on behalf of Person D, but Person D takes responsibility for the connection and the pensions dashboard service. Person D will also be registered with the Money and Pensions Service as being responsible for that particular connection.
In this scenario, Person D is operating the pensions dashboard service because it has the authority to decide and direct how the pensions dashboard service is managed or run, which includes the ability to direct Person C. Person D takes responsibility for the connection to the MaPS dashboards digital architecture and is registered with the MaPS dashboards digital architecture in relation to that particular pensions dashboard service. Person D will need Part 4A permission to undertake regulated pensions dashboard activity. Person C is unlikely to be operating the pensions dashboard service and so is unlikely to need Part 4A permission to carry out regulated pensions dashboard activity. This will still be the case even if Person C takes decisions around technical details needed to achieve the high-level directions given and decisions taken by Person D in relation to the management and running of the pension dashboard service.
Where Person D does not have the ability to instruct Person C to make the relevant changes necessary to allow Person D to completely fulfil the responsibilities Person D has accepted in relation to the pension dashboard service and its connection, Person C may also be considered the operator and need to apply for Part 4A permission.
Example 4 – third-party dashboard arrangement
In this scenario, Person E develops and produces a pensions dashboard service and connects to the MaPS dashboards digital architecture. Person E is operating the pensions dashboard service and obtains Part 4A permission for regulated pensions dashboard activity.
Person E enters into an arrangement with Person F to provide access to a qualifying pensions dashboard service for Person F’s members, customers or consumers.
For example, Person F is an employer, or trustee of a pension scheme, and arranges access to a qualifying pensions dashboard service for its employees or members. It is made clear to Person F’s members, customers or consumers that the qualifying pensions dashboard service is provided by Person E and Person E is responsible for it, in line with the rules in PDCOB 9 that apply to third-party dashboard arrangements. Person F does not control any aspect of the qualifying pensions dashboard service, apart from, for example, how the access to it may be presented or appear on Person F’s website, and so is not likely to be operating it. Person E is operating the pensions dashboard service and is likely to be the only party that needs Part 4A permission for regulated pensions dashboard activity.