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Saving Gateway Accounts Bill

My hon. Friend is right that we need to guard against the exploitative approaches often adopted by loan sharks or other types of doorstep lenders. That is why we have taken action to clamp down on such practices, and why we are putting investment and support into providing people with different types of advice; for example, it might be possible to provide such advice through people's housing association or local council. Other sources of money help and advice at different times of people's lives might be Sure Start staff, or health visitors. We should not limit ourselves to the traditional services and approaches, because we want to make sure that the savings gateway is linked into our wider approach in respect of financial inclusion and the provision of advice, education and support on money matters. Clause 8 sets out how the Government contribution will work. The maturity payment will be calculated on the basis of the highest balance reached during the account, which means that as savers build up money in their account they will also build up entitlement to the maturity payment, but they will not be penalised for withdrawing their money at any time. We think that is important to build confidence for those on the lowest incomes, so that if they have savings that they might need—perhaps in 12 or 18 months' time—they will have access to them and will not find that their money is tied up for the full two years until the maturity payment is made. That is the kind of important flexibility that will benefit people and encourage more of them to take up the scheme. That approach has been widely supported by organisations working on financial inclusion and money support, by representatives of people on lower incomes and by the financial services industry. It has also had long-standing support, which I welcome, from the Treasury Committee, which said:"““The introduction of a national Saving Gateway would be the most important single step towards achieving the aim of increasing saving among low-income individuals and households.””" Our approach is to build up support for those of working age who need to consider saving for the first time. The Bill comes alongside other measures to look at how we can encourage people to save more for their pensions and for their future. I welcome the support and engagement that we have received from a range of bodies, from community groups to financial institutions. The saving gateway offers a real incentive to save for working-age people on low incomes—a group with lower savings than the rest of the population and that needs them most. We think it is the right way to approach savings and support, providing help that could make a real difference to the lives up to 8 million low earners, encouraging them to build a savings habit and helping to bring them into the financial mainstream. I hope there will be widespread support for those objectives both inside and outside the House, and widespread support for the Bill. I commend it to the House.