Baroness Altmann (Non-Afl)

My Lords, the noble Viscount, Lord Younger, and the noble Baroness, Lady Stedman-Scott, have done the Committee a great service. I wish to flag up that these amendments are really important for us to consider before we come back on Report. The noble Viscount’s comments on Clause 31 potentially being dangerous are right on the mark. Many of the wide powers suggested here should say “must” rather than “may”, but they say only “may”. We are talking about moving somebody’s money, potentially without their knowledge; yes, we will have to write to them, but we know very well that many schemes have dormant pots because either they have lost track of the members or the members have lost track of the scheme. There is a danger here in public policy terms. In connection with this policy area, the Minister mentioned at the beginning of the debate that there are risks to members and providers. I understand the risks to providers of having small pots, as well as the costs of administering them being higher than the fees they receive from managing them, but what is the risk to the member of having their money stay where it is until they come along and ask for it to be moved? There are risks in leaving as well as in staying if they are moved into a scheme that is less suitable for them, performs less well or has a different charging structure. What if the member is away for a couple of years on a secondment, for example? What kind of protections will there be? Pensions are typically designed to be left alone. Having default funds, making regular contributions and not being able to take any of your money back until you are 55, for example, are part of the whole structure—indeed, the intention—of private pensions. Is there any intention to ensure, for example, that the member and the dashboard have been operational? I know the Minister said—we talked about this in the previous group—that there might be conflicts between the intention of the small pots legislation and the timing of the requirements relative to the timing of the dashboard, but if a member is moved and it is discovered that they are suffering a loss as a result of the move because their scheme was better or because they have come back to that scheme after a temporary absence, is there any consideration of who might be responsible for any compensation due for money that was moved when the member might well have known nothing about it?