The Department of Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Pension Dashboard Programme (PDP) has faced numerous setbacks, according to a report from the National Audit Office (NAO). The report highlights several project failures that have led to delays in the completion of the PDP.
The PDP, once finished, has the potential to benefit millions of individuals by providing them with a secure online platform to access information about their pensions. However, the estimated cost of the project has increased by 23% from £235m in 2020 to £289m in 2023, while the projected benefits have decreased from £437m in 2022 to £413m in 2023.
The NAO report states that delivery delays were caused by the DWP’s lack of digital capacity and capability. This has resulted in a one-year delay in pension providers and schemes connecting to the PDP, with no set date for public access to the platform.
Although the DWP is responsible for pensions dashboards policy, the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) has been delegated the task of delivering the PDP. MaPS collaborated with Capgemini on the project, but the NAO found that the contract between the two organizations had limitations that hindered effective oversight.
According to the report, the digital architecture was delivered iteratively using an agile approach, but the acceptance criteria for the individual statements of work were not sufficient to ensure the program’s quality. This led to Capgemini failing to meet expectations in certain areas, resulting in two withheld payments in 2022.
Other issues identified by the NAO include a small digital team at MaPS, which lacked resilience to staff turnover, and the existence of specialist roles that were not present in other areas of the organization. From the beginning, the delivery and technical complexity of the program, as well as the necessary capability and capacity, were underestimated. There were also challenges with recruitment and retention.
The NAO suggests that the PDP needs to be reset and recommends the appointment of a senior digital expert from the DWP to be more involved in program governance. They also advise the DWP to establish a team of digital resources to support the PDP and address resourcing gaps. Additionally, the report highlights that the digital architecture does not fully comply with government data protection and security standards and calls for improvements in governance and decision-making processes.