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Pensions Bill

moved Amendment No. 130DL: 130DL: Schedule 4, page 72, line 38, after ““payment),”” insert— ““paragraph 11D (terminal illness lump sum),”” The noble Lord said: I shall speak also to the other amendments in this group. I am pleased to be speaking to a group of amendments that will allow the Pension Protection Fund to give a greater level of financial support to those members who have a terminal illness. In June last year, during the passage of what is now the Pensions Act 2007, my noble friend Lord Whitty tabled an amendment that sought to allow members who were suffering from severe ill-health to access PPF compensation early. Since then, in the other place, my honourable friends the Members for Preston and for South Ribble have raised the issue of access to pension compensation for people with terminal illness who may never reach their normal retirement age. The Government are grateful for their efforts. These amendments will allow those who have a progressive disease—which means that their death may reasonably be expected in six months—to apply for a lump sum. This lump sum will be equal to twice the annual rate of compensation that they would be entitled to had they reached normal pension age, in lieu of their future entitlement. Taken together, these amendments will ensure that a member with a terminal illness will be able to access a significant lump sum, averaging in the region of £10,000, using the same rules to define ““terminally ill”” as those that are used in the financial assistance scheme and in DWP benefits. The amendments draw the right balance between what members may have been entitled to from their scheme and ensuring that the costs of this proposal do not adversely affect levy payers. Most importantly, they will mean that the money worries of terminally ill members will be eased at a most difficult time for them and their families. I beg to move.