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Pensions Bill

I had no intention whatever of pressing the amendment. I accept straight away the criticism of the noble Baroness, Lady Hollis. I accept, too, that I went way over the top in drafting the amendment, although I hope that I did not go way over the top in speaking to it. As the noble Baroness, Lady Turner, and noble Lords from the Liberal Benches have said, this is an extremely important subject. There is no doubt in anybody’s mind that means-testing is essential to the success of what we all want to see: a significant increase in the number of people saving for their retirement. It is inevitable that jobholders will exercise their right to opt out if they feel—and it may not be a particularly sustained feeling—that investing in a personal scheme, especially towards the end of their working life, would so eat into their state benefits, even eliminating them altogether, that they would be no better off than if they had not saved into such a scheme. The advice that they are given, and that we have discussed already, must—simply must—tell them whether it pays for them to save in this way. I referred in my opening remarks to the work that the Government are still undertaking on this, which the Minister called a review. This, as I understand it, will be completed during the Summer Recess—I hope that I am right. It is on the basis of those results, or what I can discover about the review if it is still going on, that I will decide whether to come back to this matter at a future stage of the Bill, because I am absolutely convinced that it is essential to the future of the whole scheme. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.