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Data standards

Data standards for pensions dashboards provide the basis for data interoperability across the pensions dashboards ecosystem. These standards are to help developers of dashboard connectivity solutions, and pension providers and schemes, build a common set of message handling tools to receive data from the pension finder service, or pensions dashboards, and reply with the appropriate data.

This standard applies to pension providers: the trustees or managers of occupational pension schemes and the managers of stakeholder and personal pension schemes connected to, or required to connect to, our pensions dashboards ecosystem.

All PDP standards are published as ‘draft’ until approved by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. Find out more about PDP’s approach to standards governance.

PDP recommends schemes and providers align with the current version (1.2) of the draft data standards whilst preparing for connection. This version was developed following industry consultation and review by PDP volunteer participants.

PDP may make further changes before seeking formal approval. Only necessary changes will be considered and we will work with industry to understand potential impacts.

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Changelog

Published 19 July 2022
Last updated 21 May 2024
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Version 1.2

21 May 2024

Removed “not in the future” under ‘validation’ for item 2.017 (State Pension date) on page 70.

2 May 2024

Boolean fields min/max lengths corrected to 4/5 rather than 1/1, following change from ‘1’/’0′ to ‘true’/’false’

29 April 2024

Find data item changes: 

General find data changes: 

  • none of the find data items are marked as mandatory 
  • multiplicity changed from x..x to simple number 
  • verification flags added for all find data items 
  • ‘text’ updated to ‘string’ 
  • Boolean fields values changed from 1/0 to true/false 

Specific find data item changes: 

  • ‘given name’ (1.001) changed to ‘first name/given name/forename’, length updated from 35 to 50 characters 
  • new item 1.002 ‘first name/given name/forename verification’ 
  • ‘name’ (previously 1.002) changed to ‘surname’ (now 1.003), length updated from 35 to 50 characters 
  • new item 1.004 ‘surname verification’ 
  • ‘date of birth’ (previously 1.003) is now 1.005 
  • new item 1.006 ‘date of birth verification’ 
  • ‘National Insurance number’ (previously 1.004) is now 1.007 
  • ‘NI number assertion’ (previously 1.005) is now 1.008 ‘National Insurance number verification’ 
  • ‘alternate name type’ (previously 1.006) is now 1.012 ‘alternate surname type’ 
  • ‘alternate name’ (previously 1.007) is now 1.011 ‘alternate surname’, length updated from 35 to 50 characters 
  • ‘alternate name assertion’ (previously 1.008) is now 1.013 alternate surname verification 
  • ‘alternate forename’ (previously 1.009) is now 1.009 ‘alternate first name/given name/ forename’, ‘text’ updated to ‘string’, length updated from 35 to 50 characters 
  • ‘alternate forename assertion’ (1.010) is now 1.010 ‘alternate first name/given name/forename verification’ 
  • ‘address type’ (previously 1.011) is now 1.021 
  • ‘address line 1’ (previously 1.012) is now 1.014 
  • ‘address line 2’ (previously 1.013) is now 1.015 
  • ‘address line 3’ (previously 1.014) is now 1.016 
  • ‘address line 4’ (previously 1.015) is now 1.017 
  • ‘address line 5’ (previously 1.016) is now 1.018 
  • ‘postcode’ (previously 1.017) is now 1.020 
  • ‘country code’ (previously 1.018) is now 1.019 
  • ‘address assertion’ (previously 1.019) is now 1.022 ‘address verification’ 
  • ‘email address’ (previously 1.020) is now 1.023 
  • ‘email assertion’ (previously 1.021) is now ‘email verification’ 1.024 
  • new item 1.025 ‘alternate email’ 
  • new item 1.025 ‘alternate email verification’ 
  • ‘mobile number’ (previously 1.022) is now 1.027 
  • ‘mobile assertion’ (previously 1.023) is now 1.028 ‘mobile verification’ 
  • new item 1.029 ‘alternate phone number’ 
  • new item 1.030 ‘alternate phone number verification’ 
  • ‘no NINO’ (previously 1.024) is now 1.031 ‘no National Insurance number’ 
  • ‘no NINO assertion’ (previously 1.025) is now 1.032 ‘no National Insurance number verification’ 

General view data changes: 

  • none of the items are marked as ‘mandatory’ and ‘optional’. Only conditional logical relationships between items are described, reflecting the standards’ status as being facilitative rather than determinative of legal obligations in respect of returning view data 
  • multiplicity changed from x..x to simple number 
  • ‘text’ updated to ‘string’ 
  • Boolean fields values changed from 1/0 to true/false 

Specific Administrative data item changes: 

  • ‘contact scheme or new member’ (previously 2.001, incorporating codes for possible match [POSS], contact scheme [CONT], new member [NEW] and system error [SYS]) removed and replaced with separate items 
  • new item 2.001 ‘possible match’ as Boolean operator ‘true’/’false’  
  • new item 2.002 ‘possible match case reference’ 
  • ‘pension reference’ (previously 2.002) is now 2.003, extended from 35 to 50 characters 
  • new item 2.004 ‘contact scheme’ as Boolean operator ‘true’/’false’ 
  • new item 2.005 ‘administrative details not available (new member)’ as Boolean operator ‘true’/’false’ 
  • new item 2.006 ‘temporary system error’ as Boolean operator ‘true’/’false’ 
  • ‘pension name’ (previously 2.003) is now ‘pension provider/scheme name’ 2.007, extended from 100 to 150 characters 
  • new item 2.008 ‘additional pension provider/scheme name’ 
  • new item 2.009 ‘additional pension provider/scheme name type’, fixed values of either FOR (former name) or OTH (other) 
  • ‘pension type’ (previously 2.004) is now 2.010, fixed format rather than free format 
  • ‘pension origin’ (previously 2.005) is now 2.011, fixed format rather than free format, and with S (State Pension) removed 
  • ‘pension status’ (previously 2.006) is now 2.012, fixed format rather than free format 
  • ‘pension start date’ (previously 2.007) is now 2.013, correction of conditionality to say do not send if 2.001 is populated ‘true’ 
  • ‘pension retirement date’ (previously 2.008) is now 2014 
  • ‘pension link’ (previously 2.009) is now 2.015 
  • ‘date of birth’ (previously 2.010) is now 2.016 
  • ‘State Pension age’ (previously 2.011) is now 2.017 ‘State Pension date’ (i.e. the age at which user will be eligible for State Pension), and date format rather than numeric 
  • ‘state message eng’ (previously 2.012) is now 2.018 ‘State Pension message English’ 
  • ‘state message wal’ (previously 2.013) is now 2.019 ‘State Pension message Welsh’ 

Specific pension administrator details item changes: 

  • ‘administrator name’ (previously 2.101) is still 2.1010, but extended to 150 characters 
  • ‘admin contact preference’ (previously 2.102) has been removed, replaced by new ‘preferred’ Boolean operators to accompany each contact method provided, which allows providers to indicate with finer granularity their preferred method (e.g. a particular phone number and type, rather than just all the phone numbers) 
  • ‘administrator URL’ (previously 2.103) is now 2.102, extended from 100 to 150 characters 
  • new item 2.103 ‘administrator URL (preferred)’ as Boolean operator ‘true’/’false’ 
  • new item 2.105 ‘administrator email (preferred)’ as Boolean operator ‘true’/’false’ 
  • ‘administrator phone number’ (previously 2.105) is now 2.106, minimum length amended from 1 to 10 
  • ‘administrator phone number type’ (previously 2.106) is now 2.107 
  • new item 2.108 ‘administrator phone (preferred)’ as Boolean operator ‘true’/’false’ 
  • ‘administrator postal name’ (previously 2.107) is now 2.109 
  • ‘administrator address line 1’ (previously 2.108) is now 2.110 
  • ‘administrator address line 2’ (previously 2.109) is now 2.111 
  • ‘administrator address line 3’ (previously 2.110) is now 2.112 
  • ‘administrator address line 4’ (previously 2.111) is now 2.113 
  • ‘administrator address line 5’ (previously 2.112) is now 2.114 
  • ‘postcode’ (previously 2.113) is now 2.116 ‘administrator postcode’  
  • new item 2.115 ‘country code’ 
  • new item 2.117 ‘administrator postal address (preferred)’ as Boolean operator ‘true’/’false’ 

Specific employer and service period data item changes 

  • ‘employer name’ 2.201 multiplicity changed from 5 to 10 
  • ‘employment start date’ (previously 2.202) is now 2.204, multiplicity changed from 5 to 10, wording of description amended to mirror both Regulations and Rules and clarify the start and end dates relate to the pensionable service period/period of employment which generated the accrual of the pension 
  • ‘employment end date’ (previously 2.203) is now 2.205, multiplicity changed from 5 to 10, wording of description amended to mirror both Regulations and Rules and clarify the start and end dates relate to the pensionable service period/period of employment which generated the accrual of the pension 
  • new item 2.202 ‘employer status’, fixed format current/historic 
  • new item 2.203 ‘multiple employers’ as Boolean operator ‘true’/’false’, aligning employment details to the requirements in the legislation (which allows schemes to simply indicate where multiple employers have been involved in building up the pension; the names of those employers may also be provided in 2.201) 

Specific ERI data item changes: 

  • ‘ERI benefit type’ (previously 2.301) is now 2.302, fixed format rather than free format, ‘SP’ code removed, ‘CBL’ code added 
  • ‘ERI amount type’ (previously 2.302) is now 2.303, fixed format rather than free format 
  • ‘ERI basis’ (previously 2.303) is now 2.304, fixed format rather than free format 
  • ‘ERI illustration date’ (previously 2.304) removed 
  • ‘ERI end date’ (previously 2.308) is now 2.309 
  • new item 2.308 DC ERI is less than £120pa 
  • ‘ERI increase’ (previously 2.309) is now 2.311  
  • ‘ERI survivor benefit’ (previously 2.310) is now 2.312 
  • ‘ERI pot’ (previously 2.311) is now 2.310 ‘DC ERI pot’ 
  • ‘ERI safeguarded benefits’ (previously 2.312) is now 2.313 
  • ‘ERI warning’ (previously 2.313) is now 2.314, additional ERI warning codes (‘CUR’: benefit is normally calculated in a non-sterling currency; ‘DEF’: member’s ERI value was calculated when the user was an active member; ‘FAS’: user’s benefits will be supplemented by direct payments by Financial Assistance Scheme); ‘SPA’ code renamed SCP 
  • ‘ERI unavailable’ (previously 2.314) is now 2.301, additional ERI unavailable codes (New ‘NET’ code: user is a new member user of the pension provider/schemes as a result of a transfer in and accrued pension information is not yet available) and replacements (‘3RD’ renamed ‘ANO’, ‘DCA’ renamed ‘DCHA’, ‘DCP’ renamed ‘DCHP’) 

Specific accrued data item changes: 

  • ‘accrued type’ (previously 2.401) is now 2.402 ‘accrued benefit type’, fixed format rather than free format, ‘SP’ code removed, ‘CBL’ code added 
  • ‘accrued amount type’ (previously 2.402) is now 2.403, fixed format rather than free format 
  • ‘accrued basis’ (previously 2.403) is now 2.404, fixed format rather than free format 
  • ‘accrued calculation date’ (previously 2.404) removed 
  • ‘accrued annual amount’ (previously 2.406) renamed to 2.406 ‘accrued amount’ (allowing for lump sums and incomes) 
  • ‘accrued end date’ (previously 2.408) is now 2.309 
  • new item 2.408 DC annual accrued is less than £120pa 
  • ‘accrued increase’ (previously 2.409) is now 2.411  
  • ‘accrued survivor benefit’ (previously 2.410) is now 2.412 
  • ‘accrued pot’ (previously 2.411) is now 2.410 
  • ‘accrued safeguarded benefits’ (previously 2.412) is now 2.413 
  • ‘accrued warning’ (previously 2.413) is now 2.414, additional accrued warning codes (‘CUR’: benefit is normally calculated in a non-sterling currency; ‘DEF’: member’s accrued value was calculated when the user was an active member; ‘FAS’: user’s benefits will be supplemented by direct payments by Financial Assistance Scheme); ‘SPA’ code renamed SCP 
  • ‘accrued unavailable’ (previously 2.414) is now 2.401, additional accrued unavailable code (‘NET’: user is a new member user of the pension provider/schemes as a result of a transfer in and accrued pension information is not yet available); ‘3RD’ code renamed ‘ANO’; removal of accrued unavailable codes (‘TPS’: a temporary code for public service benefits, this code should be used for public service benefits that are staged prior to the values being available on the new scheme bases; ‘DCA’: DC benefit and the value of the pot is less than £5,000, no contributions are being made to the pension provider and they have notified the individual they will not be providing any further SMPIs until contributions restart OR the calculated ERI is below £120pa; and ‘DCP’: DC benefit and the member is within 2 years of their retirement date or older) 

Value data illustration date – new item, replacing previous ERI/accrued illustration date items 

November 2022

Post-consultation changes (changes documented in consultation response and changelog)