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Pensions Bill

I am giving a broad figure. At the same time, only 53 per cent. of pensioners who are eligible for council tax benefit claim it. If pensioners who have saved find that as a result of their saving, the benefits to which they are entitled are dramatically reduced, incentives to save will be eroded and the Bill's objective will be destroyed. Housing benefit can involve a high marginal deduction rate. We know who some of the high-risk groups are. Single people are likely to be worse off because they generally do not save as much for their retirement, and they may well rent their properties. There are medium-risk groups, such as those in their 40s and 50s who are not currently saving for their retirement. They could well lose out, although that will depend on what happens when they retire. Clearly, it would be wrong if people who put money into the personal pension scheme were to find that as a result they were worse off. We need some analysis of the scale of the problem. How many of the 5 million to 7 million people are likely to be worse off? There must be one of two options. I admit that it will be impossible to tell someone in their 20s or 30s, ““By the time you get to retirement, it won't be worth you saving,”” but we need to be able to advise people in the medium and high-risk groups at the beginning that they ought to opt out. If we cannot do that, we will be misleading people. I do not agree with the hon. Member for Eastbourne, who said, ““It's a seat belt, and some people have got to be worse off.”” We must give two pieces of advice. We must make amendments to the benefit system to ensure that people are not disadvantaged—and we must be clear in our analysis of what changes need to be made to deliver that—or we need to advise people that they had better not save through a personal pension scheme, because they would be worse off.