Having a wee gap between client work, I have spent the last couple of weeks engaging in some of my hobbies.  These include watching epic Chinese martial arts dramas, painting toy soldiers and listening to terrible European power metal songs about tank battles and Vikings.  Actually that’s not true, metal songs about Vikings are awesome.   […]

The recent announcement that there will be a delay in the Pensions Dashboards staging dates is welcome but comes with a risk.  It’s absolutely not a chance to relax on all the work that schemes, providers, administrators and third parties need to do.  The pedal must stay to the metal.  It’s about data availability as […]

To no surprise to anybody close to the project it’s finally been accepted that the Pensions Dashboard Program needs to be delayed.   Take it from me, it needed to or August would have been a disaster.  And in the next few days you will see commentators telling you why it happened.  Some will be right, […]

Last week the DWP issued its call for evidence on small pots.  I’ve been thinking about a few issues that I think it rather glosses over. If you are not sure what the small pots issue is then in summary there are millions and millions of pensions pots under a thousand pounds and the number […]

So when will we actually get Pensions Dashboards?   As previously discussed the work on developing Pensions Dashboards in the UK is something that’s been on the go for years.  So at some point we really should know when we, as in we the UK public as a whole, are going to actually get to log […]

The thing is, Dashboard is an IT project.  Having been involved in the Pensions Dashboard project in one way or another for a long time, more than two Olympics ago in fact, I am struck by one thing above all.    Everybody looks at it as a policy, or engagement or data issue.  Which it is […]

The number one question I have been asked since I set up the business has been a variation of the title of this first blog post.  And no its not what flows out of a volcano. Settle in for a history, geography and linguistic lesson. Laverock is the old Scots word for a lark, the […]