---

Pensions Bill

moved Amendment No. 43A: 43A: Clause 13, page 7, line 7, at beginning insert ““In addition to fulfilling the duties under section 5 of the Pensions Act 2007 (c. 22),”” The noble Lord said: This is a paving amendment, and quite deliberately so. Restoring the broken link between national average earnings and the basic state pension is at the heart of the Bill and must be the bedrock of any national consensus on pensions after the Turner report. It is so easy to get lost in the trees of detail on the Bill, but the basic state pension really is the wood. Amendment No. 43A is a paving amendment for the substantive one, Amendment No. 136, which ensures that the earnings-link section from last year’s Pensions Act comes into force no later than 1 April 2012. That section requires the Secretary of State to review the basic state pension, the standard minimum guarantee in state pension credit, and widow’s pension and widower’s pension in industrial death benefit to determine whether they have kept their value in relation to the general level of earnings; and, when he considers that the level of earnings has increased during the review period, to lay a draft of an uprating order before Parliament increasing the amounts by a percentage that is not less than the relevant increase in earnings over the review period. The basic state pension has fallen in value so far over the past 30 years that pensioners have been forced into a means-test maze that destroys incentives to save for old age. We all agree that we must stop that rot. The Government want to bring in personal accounts and automatic enrolment for millions of pension savers in April 2012, but refuse to make a commitment to keep their side of the pension bargain. They say that the earnings link will be restored between April 2012 and April 2015, "““subject to affordability and the fiscal position””." If you are one of the 1.25 million pensioners in the UK living officially in severe poverty, the 2.25 million pensioners in poverty or the 1.5 million pensioners in fuel poverty, you cannot say that you will pay your gas bill or buy your next half a dozen eggs or pint of milk, "““subject to affordability and the fiscal position””." You need the money to survive now. The Government must stop hiding behind weasel words to wriggle out of making a firm commitment even to bring back the link in four years’ time. Of course, that is in the far from certain event that this Government will then be in power, so the attitude of the Conservatives to the amendment is of more than academic interest. In the Commons, and again in this place, they have tabled an amendment asking the Government effectively to say where they stand. That is fine so far as it goes and we will support it, but is it not the height of hypocrisy for a party that seeks to be taken seriously as the next Government to challenge this Government on when they will restore the earnings link without answering the same question themselves? Even if their Front Bench feels unable to support our simple amendment, I hope that Conservative Back-Bench Peers—I do not see many of them at the moment—and Peers from all round the Committee will feel able to join us, as they did last year on the amendments tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Hollis, to give pensions justice to women. It is no surprise that Help the Aged, in its excellent Spotlight report on pensioner poverty, points out that lack of money bars a large minority of the population from enjoying many of life’s pleasures. Nearly one in seven pensioners in the UK has not had a meal out for more than one year; about one-third of pensioners have not had a holiday in the past five years; and more than half believe that an extra £5 a week could make a real difference to their lives. Pensioner poverty is getting worse. Means-tested benefits are not getting through to about two in five pensioners who are entitled to them. It is high time for us to set a firm date to protect the basic state pension. I beg to move.