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Social Security (Contributions Credits for Parents and Carers) Regulations 2009

My Lords, the regulations were laid before the House on 12 October. Before I proceed further, I wish to state that in my view this statutory instrument is compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. The background to the regulations is the credits for parents and carers, introduced into the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 by the Pensions Act 2007, which both replaces and builds on the home responsibilities protection provisions. The Act introduced a new carer’s credit available to people engaged in caring, which the regulations provide to include caring for one or more persons for a total of 20 hours a week or more. The Committee may recall that, when the credit was first proposed, it was to be available only where the persons cared for were in receipt of a relevant disability-related benefit. However, following discussions with carers’ representatives, it was decided to extend the provision to those caring for at least 20 hours a week for people without a qualifying benefit, but where the need for care was certified by a health or social care professional. The provisions were warmly welcomed by noble Lords but there were some reservations concerning the delegation of the provisions to regulations. I hope that these regulations, which define "engaged in caring" and are the result of extensive collaboration with stakeholders, will reassure noble Lords. The overall consensus has been that the certification arrangements should operate with a "light touch" to avoid disqualifying someone who is not in regular contact with professional health agencies. Consequently, the range of people who are able to certify the need for care is designed to be as broad as possible. There is no prescribed list of people who could certify, and this could be done, for instance, by a member of a voluntary group in regular contact with the person being cared for. We have worked throughout with representatives from Carers UK, which has helped to produce the guidance for certifiers. I am delighted that we have also been able to work with Carers UK to produce a most successful Carers Rights Day last Friday, which this year had a theme relevant to these regulations of "Caring for your Pension". As a result of these credits for carers, around 160,000 more people could start to gain a credit for the basic state pension in 2010, including around 115,000 women. Also around 240,000 more people could accrue entitlement to state second pension than are currently doing so, including around 145,000 women. The Committee may have noticed that these figures are somewhat higher than those contained in the Explanatory Memorandum to the regulations. The lower figures represent those estimated to gain through caring for someone with a disability-related benefit only. They do not include those where the need for care is certified. We have arranged for the Explanatory Memorandum to be corrected and relaid. The regulations also include some provisions to help other carers. Foster carers, defined here, and people getting child benefit for a child under 12 are expressly provided for in the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992. Also in respect of child benefit, Regulation 5(1)(a) provides for the partners of child benefit recipients to be treated as "engaged in caring" for the purposes of these credits. That is when the child benefit recipient cannot themselves benefit from the credits because he or she already has a qualifying year for basic and additional pension purposes—most usually through paid work. From April 2008, we introduced a similar provision for transferring HRP entitlement between partners. That has proved very useful on those occasions where the "wrong person" has claimed child benefit and their partner, at home with the children, would otherwise not have received credits towards a state pension. I need to draw noble Lords’ attention to one small drafting error in the regulations. As some may have noticed, the words, ""is in receipt of income support"," in Regulation 10(2)(a) are superfluous. Income support carers, defined in Regulation 5(1)(c), are not required to make an application. In summary, these regulations seek to ensure that the greatest number of genuine carers benefit from these new credits. They put in place the final piece of the legislation designed to enhance the pension prospects of carers and others with broken work records. The credits, together with the reduction in the number of qualifying years and the single contribution condition, will mean that from next April around three-quarters of women reaching pension age will qualify for a full basic state pension, compared to around half without these changes. Ultimately, around 95 per cent of women will qualify for a full basic state pension. It will become possible to obtain a full pension solely on the basis of credit so that, for the first time, caring will be fully on a par with paid employment. I recommend these regulations to the Committee.