Pensions (Extension of
Automatic Enrolment) (No. 2) Bill
Third Reading
3.19pm
Motion
Moved by
That the Bill do now pass.
(Con)
My Lords, I congratulate and thank my honourable friend on initiating this Private
Member’s Bill in the other place. I also thank my honourable
friend the Pensions Minister, , my noble friend Lord Younger,
the Lords Minister, DWP officials and the Bill team, the Public
Bill Office, the Lords Library and the Lords clerks.
This Bill reflects the strong cross-party support in both Houses
and continued political consensus on auto-enrolment. In that
regard, I thank the noble Baronesses, Lady Sherlock and Lady
Drake, whose work on the Pensions Commission recommended
automatic enrolment, and the noble Lords, Lord Davies and , for their speeches supporting
the Bill, which paves the way for half a million younger people
and at least 2.5 million older workers to build bigger pensions,
particularly for the low paid. I look forward to the promised
early consultation to confirm the details and timing of the
regulations, which will see the provisions of the Bill
implemented by all employers. I beg to move.
(Lab)
I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Altmann, for piloting the Bill
through this House and I share her thanks to the Minister and his
team, and all noble Lords who participated. Auto-enrolment is a
much-loved child with more than one parent. As the noble Baroness
said, the work came from the Pensions Commission, set up by the
last Labour Government and on which my noble friend Lady Drake
and the noble Lord, Lord Turner, served with such distinction.
The coalition Government implemented it in 2012, and there has
been a welcome growth as a result in the number of people saving
for a pension. We can all celebrate that—but, as we noted at
Second Reading, pensions adequacy is still an issue, so we need
to look at continually improving auto-enrolment and addressing
the question of the gender pensions gap, which remains a matter
of serious concern.
This simple, permissive Bill would allow the Government to make
progress in fulfilling their commitment by implementing some of
the 2017 review measures, namely reducing the lower age limit for
being auto-enrolled and removing the lower earnings limit. The
Minister confirmed at Second Reading that the Government were
still committed to doing that in the mid-2020s. Without wishing
to be depressing, as 2023 begins its descent towards the sea, I
wonder if the Minister can give us any hint as to whether 2024
might be the year, or is this gently rolling into the grass
beyond the election?
The Opposition fully support this Bill. I thank again all those
involved in proposing it and look forward to its passage.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work
and Pensions () (Con)
My Lords, I, too, congratulate my noble friend Lady Altmann on
piloting this excellent Bill to its final stages. As I said at
Second Reading, it has the full backing of His Majesty’s
Government, and I am pleased to reiterate that support today. As
the noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock, has just said, the 2017 review
measures will see hundreds of thousands more young workers
brought into workplace pensions for the first time. Alongside
this, 2.5 million existing savers will see their pension
contributions grow. Removing the lower earnings limit will mean
that every worker will be paying pension contributions from their
first pound of earnings and benefit from an employer
contribution. Overall, an extra £2 billion-worth would be saved a
year.
I am grateful for the constructive scrutiny of the Bill from
noble Lords on all sides of the House. I acknowledge the
thoughtful interventions at Second Reading of the noble
Baronesses, Lady Sherlock and Lady Drake, and the noble Lords,
of Childs Hill and . If the House
agrees to final passage today, the Government will look to play
their part by consulting on how to implement the expansion of
automatic enrolment at the earliest opportunity, which I hope
gives some idea of the timescale to the noble Baroness, Lady
Sherlock. We hope that it could be later this year. We will then
report to Parliament about how we intend to proceed in accordance
with the provisions in the Bill. I am very pleased that there is
cross-party support for my noble friend’s Bill, and I hope that
this House will agree to its final passage today.
3.24pm
Bill passed.
