Upcoming deadlines – ORA and Dashboards

Upcoming deadlines…

Own Risk Assessment (ORA) – from 31 March 2026

Under the Pensions Regulator’s General Code of Practice, trustees of pension schemes with 100 or more members must complete an ORA. This is a documented evaluation of how well the trustees’ governance and risk‑management arrangements operate in practice.

The ORA goes beyond policy statements, requiring trustees to demonstrate how their Effective System of Governance (ESOG) functions day‑to‑day and how key risks are identified and managed. The first ORA must be produced “within 12 months of the end of the first scheme year beginning after 28 March 2024”. Schemes with a 31 March year‑end will face a 31 March 2026 deadline.

For schemes with a different year end, the deadline will be later, as shown below.

The Regulator has signalled that on-time ORAs will be an important indicator of strong governance, so don’t be late!

Pensions dashboards – connection dates for smaller schemes and next steps

Pensions dashboards are new online tools that will let people see all (or most of) their pensions in one place, making it much easier to keep track of everything and find any lost pots.

Schemes with at least 100 “relevant” members must connect to the dashboards system by 31 October 2026 (see below). Larger schemes and some government pension schemes are already connected.

Relevant members are those who have not yet retired, meaning active and deferred members plus any pension credit members.

Schemes with fewer than 100 relevant members are not required to connect but can do so voluntarily.

Dashboards aren’t live for the public yet – expect them in 2027 at the earliest. The Government’s MoneyHelper dashboard will launch first, with commercial versions (from banks and other financial institutions) following later.

MHM comment:

If you would like to be involved in testing MoneyHelper’s dashboard, they are recruiting testers and anyone can apply to participate. Further details, including how to apply, can be found on the Pensions Dashboards Programme website by following this link.