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Pensions Bill

As I understand it, the noble Lord is not in favour of the measure because he does not like the idea of money being inherited by family members. We part company with him there. Although he proposes that the age should be increased, that is not exactly the most fundamental reform of the system, if he does not mind my saying so. As for his argument that my noble friend’s amendments cover two pages of the Marshalled List, he has been involved in this area long enough to know that almost any reform involves at least two pages of text. Indeed, I am amazed at my noble friend’s modesty. We differ from the Liberal Democrats on this rather important point. We believe that the family is the basis of society. We are probably not talking of spending vast sums to encourage people to save money for their children to inherit. Indeed, it is in the public interest that they are encouraged to do so. If that persuaded people to save money, it would be of vast public benefit. Therefore, I am not remotely persuaded by the argument of the noble Lord, Lord Oakeshott. My noble friend Lord Hunt set out the case extraordinarily well. The matter has a long history and represents a longstanding injustice. There is absolutely no reason why people should be forced to take an annuity at 75. I agree with everyone who says that, if they wish to do so, they should have that opportunity. That is their choice, and some people will exercise it, as they do not want the trouble of looking after their money. That is fine. That is their choice and they should be allowed to exercise it. However, many people will not want to make that choice because they feel it is not in their interests to do so. On a number of occasions noble Lords have indicated that they would much prefer the citizen to exercise his own choice in this matter. Rather than getting weaker over the years that we have debated this issue, that case has become much stronger. As my noble friend Lord Skelmersdale said, pensions are changing rapidly. We are seeing the demise of the final salary scheme, apart from in the public sector, and the establishment of many more money purchase schemes. It is not an issue of marginal importance or interest any more; it is a case of fundamental importance. That is one argument for a change. The case put by the noble Lord, Lord Oakeshott, about age was also true. Even if you believe in compulsory annuities, no one in their right mind would put the limit at age 75 because age expectation has increased. You are now talking about 80 or 85 if you are a believer in the system, which I am not. Let us face it: only the Treasury stands against this proposal, as in all things good in this world. The only reason it has for doing so is that people could fall back on to social security. In my noble friend’s two-page amendment, he has gone to enormous trouble to prevent that taking place. After that, like the noble Baroness, Lady Hollis, I cannot think of any sensible arguments that can be put in its place. My noble friend and others have talked about the pension pot of money that you hope to have at 75 or whatever age. If you are coming up to 75 now, you may well find that your pension pot is under more pressure than for many years. Your investment values will have gone down, probably at a worse rate than for 10 or 20 years; the noble Lord, Lord Oakeshott, is a greater expert on the investments than I am. At that point, you are saying to individuals, ““We don’t mind that, but we insist that you annuitise at that inflexible age””. That is totally unjust. For all those reasons, the time has come to reform the rule, whatever the past has been. The situation as everyone has recognised it has changed. There is a question of fundamental justice here, and I hope that the Minister will at long last recognise that.