On the go: Labour peers are pushing for an amendment to the pension schemes bill that will see a 12-month restriction placed on providers looking to operate their own pensions dashboards.
A number of amendments focusing on improving the rollout of pensions dashboards were set to be debated on Tuesday, as the bill returns to the House of Lords after a lengthy delay due to the Covid-19 crisis.
One amendment being brought forward by Labour peer Jeannie Drake will ensure that the Money and Pensions Service’s dashboard is up and running for an entire year before any commercial providers are allowed to launch their own.
Lady Drake argued it was important for savers to have access to their pensions data through a public dashboard, rather than rely on a commercial service.
“The dashboard should inform and engage people, but commercial versions that allow for transactions could lead to mis-selling and provider nudging,” she said.
“Indeed, for some vulnerable consumers, having a transaction function alongside information on all of their savings could result in poor and costly decision-making. Some could even be scammed out of everything.”
Peers have also called on the secretary of state to report to parliament on the public dashboard’s operation and effectiveness.
A second amendment has also been lodged by the peers that would ensure the dashboard “does not move beyond the find and display function into allowing for financial transactions until parliament is confident of the consumer protections being provided”.
Lady Drake said: “The architecture of building a dashboard service has its complexities and challenges, including liabilities, consumer behaviour and redress, data standards, verification and security, and delegated access.
“None of this is a reason to stop progress, but parliament needs to be confident that the public and consumer interest is being well served.”
This article originally appeared on ftadviser.com
