Pensions dashboards and divorce

General information, not advice on your own case.

The key points

A pensions dashboard is a free online service that finds your pensions using your own details and shows them together in one place.
Pension schemes and providers have to connect by 31 October 2026. The public will not be able to use a dashboard until later, with the first expected during the 2027 to 2028 financial year.
A dashboard shows your own pensions only. Nobody can use it to search your former partner’s pensions, and a solicitor cannot log in on anyone’s behalf.
It does not give you the cash equivalent (CE), the figure needed for financial disclosure and for a pension sharing order. You still have to ask each scheme for that.
Some pensions will not appear, including pensions already being paid and many small schemes.
Once dashboards are open, “I forgot about that pension” becomes much harder to say.

What a pensions dashboard is

A pensions dashboard is an online service that searches pension schemes using your own details, such as your name, date of birth and National Insurance number, and shows you what it finds. The first will be run by the Money and Pensions Service through MoneyHelper, and it is free. Commercial dashboards run by pension companies are expected to follow.

For most people the value is simple. Short jobs, auto-enrolment and moving house leave small pensions behind, and people genuinely lose track of them. A dashboard brings them back into view.

When you will be able to use one

Pension schemes and providers have a legal deadline of 31 October 2026 to connect to the system. That is a deadline for the schemes, not the day you can log in. The government has said it will give six months’ notice before dashboards open to the public, and the first is expected during the 2027 to 2028 financial year.

What it will show

For a defined contribution (DC) pension, the kind built up as a pot of money, a dashboard should show the current value of the pot and an estimate of the income it might provide. For a defined benefit (DB) pension, the kind that promises an income based on salary and service, it should show the income built up so far and, where relevant, an estimate of the income at retirement. The State Pension is also expected to appear.

Each entry also shows who runs the pension and how to contact them, which is often the most useful part.

What it will not show

The cash equivalent. This is the figure used in financial disclosure (Form E) and in a pension sharing order. Only the scheme can provide it, and you still need to ask for it in writing.
A value for divorce purposes. An income figure on its own does not tell you how that income will increase once it is paid, or whether it comes with a lump sum or a pension for a surviving partner. Two pensions showing the same yearly figure can be worth very different amounts.
History. There are no past values, so a dashboard cannot help with questions about how much of a pension was built up before or after the relationship.
Pensions already being paid. These will not appear, at least at first.
Every scheme. Most schemes with fewer than 100 members do not have to connect, so small company schemes, including a director’s own scheme, may be missing. Some older arrangements may not appear either.
Anything about the other person. You see only your own pensions.

Possible matches and pending results

Not every search comes back complete. A scheme may find a record it thinks is yours but cannot confirm, in which case you have to contact the scheme to prove who you are before it will show. Other results may be pending while the scheme gathers its figures. A first search is a starting point, so check again before you rely on it.

What this means for financial disclosure

A dashboard does not change the duty to give full and frank disclosure, and it does not replace Form E or the letters to each scheme. What it does change is what you can reasonably be expected to know. Once dashboards are open, it will be straightforward for each person to run a search and share the list of pensions it finds, and a pension that appears on a dashboard but not in disclosure will be hard to explain.

If you are already going through a divorce, you do not need to wait. Your payslips, old employment records and pension letters are still the best place to start, and each scheme will give you a CE on request.

What to do next

Use the dashboard, when it opens, to find what you have. Then ask each scheme for a CE, and use the free check on this site to see whether your case needs a pension expert.

October 2026