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Pensions Bill

I have some sympathy with the amendments in this group, but many of the arguments of the noble Baroness, Lady Hollis, apply to the next amendment, so I was surprised to see that all the amendments had not been grouped together. Be that as it may, I have some sympathy with the proposal. The Government are rightly trying to encourage people to take more control over their pension pots by introducing measures such as a reduction in the number of years that NICs must be paid and the extension of contribution credits to make it considerably easier for people to work towards a full state pension before retirement age. As has been pointed out by the noble Lord and the noble Baronesses, these amendments go further than the Bill currently allows. My concerns rest largely on questions of both cost and feasibility. Allowing people over the state pension age to continue to top up their pension pots would be a considerable spending commitment because what comes in and what goes out are of a vastly different magnitude. Members on these Benches cannot support the amendments because there simply has not been enough research or analysis on the costs and benefits of these suggestions. Were there to be, I might well take a different line. It would be irresponsible to put into this Bill a policy which has not been fully thought through. However, I hope that the Government will look seriously at these amendments and devote some time to fully costing them, then weighing those costs against the benefits that would come from encouraging older workers to stay in work, a matter on which I shall dwell shortly. Until then, I cannot support these amendments.