rose—

rose—

I see that my hon. Friend and constituency neighbour wishes to intervene.

I see that my hon. Friend and constituency neighbour wishes to intervene.

I congratulate my hon. Friend and constituency neighbour on securing this debate and raising this issue. He will have constituents, as I do, who have been writing to us on this issue and feel very strongly that an injustice has been done.

I congratulate my hon. Friend and constituency neighbour on securing this debate and raising this issue. He will have constituents, as I do, who have been writing to us on this issue and feel very strongly that an injustice has been done.

Agreed to on question.

Agreed to on question.

I will give way to the right hon. Member for New Forest East (Sir Julian Lewis) first.

I will give way to the right hon. Member for New Forest East (Sir Julian Lewis) first.

The hon. Gentleman is making an excellent presentation. Rather curiously, up until 2023, ExxonMobil pensioners got automatically indexed uplifts to their pensions, but for some reason from that date onwards, the company changed its policy and now they are not getting the discretionary uplift. The trustees there say that they...

The hon. Gentleman is making an excellent presentation. Rather curiously, up until 2023, ExxonMobil pensioners got automatically indexed uplifts to their pensions, but for some reason from that date onwards, the company changed its policy and now they are not getting the discretionary uplift. The trustees there say that they...

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for drawing attention to that particular anomaly.

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for drawing attention to that particular anomaly.

Across the country, an estimated 1 million pensioners are losing out on pension increases that they ought to be entitled to, simply because the hard shift that they put in to pay into their pensions happened to occur before an arbitrary date in a calendar. That is not good enough....

Across the country, an estimated 1 million pensioners are losing out on pension increases that they ought to be entitled to, simply because the hard shift that they put in to pay into their pensions happened to occur before an arbitrary date in a calendar. That is not good enough....

I have had written communications and met with constituents who used to work alongside my hon. Friend’s constituents at Nissan. Sadly, in the case of Nissan and countless others, trustees have proven themselves not to be accountable enough for the decisions that affect those holding pensions. Evidence submitted to the...

I have had written communications and met with constituents who used to work alongside my hon. Friend’s constituents at Nissan. Sadly, in the case of Nissan and countless others, trustees have proven themselves not to be accountable enough for the decisions that affect those holding pensions. Evidence submitted to the...

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate and on clearly laying out the injustice. Does he have concerns, as I do, that the make-up of the trustee boards means that the company is in control? That is either because the trustees are current employees and their promotion will...

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate and on clearly laying out the injustice. Does he have concerns, as I do, that the make-up of the trustee boards means that the company is in control? That is either because the trustees are current employees and their promotion will...

I absolutely share that concern. My understanding from the constituent I met is that Nissan’s trustees include a majority of company appointees who outvote the trustees representing the members of the scheme. Key factors have been ignored, from ignoring inflation to overlooking member contributions. For that reason, I believe that...

I absolutely share that concern. My understanding from the constituent I met is that Nissan’s trustees include a majority of company appointees who outvote the trustees representing the members of the scheme. Key factors have been ignored, from ignoring inflation to overlooking member contributions. For that reason, I believe that...

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech, and I congratulate him on securing today’s debate. Has he noticed in his work on this issue that in some cases, some international companies are paying inflationary increases in other jurisdictions where they operate, but not in the UK? There have been...

My hon. Friend is making an excellent speech, and I congratulate him on securing today’s debate. Has he noticed in his work on this issue that in some cases, some international companies are paying inflationary increases in other jurisdictions where they operate, but not in the UK? There have been...

I thank my hon. Friend for that very useful contribution. I was not aware of that, and I am shocked. It is a further injustice if pensioners in the UK are treated differently from pensioners who worked for the same company in other territories. While the Pensions Ombudsman can establish...

I thank my hon. Friend for that very useful contribution. I was not aware of that, and I am shocked. It is a further injustice if pensioners in the UK are treated differently from pensioners who worked for the same company in other territories. While the Pensions Ombudsman can establish...

I congratulate the hon. Member for North Durham (Luke Akehurst) on his excellent speech and on securing this debate, and all those who have participated in it. I thank the Minister for allowing me a few words.

On your behalf, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will mention your constituent Steve Mawby, because...

I congratulate the hon. Member for North Durham (Luke Akehurst) on his excellent speech and on securing this debate, and all those who have participated in it. I thank the Minister for allowing me a few words.

On your behalf, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will mention your constituent Steve Mawby, because...

I am pleased that my hon. Friend the Member for North Durham (Luke Akehurst) has secured the debate on this important matter and thank him for the thoughtful way in which he described the impact on his constituents. He spoke on behalf of many others as well, and in particular...

I am pleased that my hon. Friend the Member for North Durham (Luke Akehurst) has secured the debate on this important matter and thank him for the thoughtful way in which he described the impact on his constituents. He spoke on behalf of many others as well, and in particular...

I will not detain the Minister long. If a group of trustees never pays a discretionary bonus, even though the scheme is in surplus, it starts to look like it is a policy of theirs to discriminate against a subset of their beneficiaries, and I think that is illegal. I...

I will not detain the Minister long. If a group of trustees never pays a discretionary bonus, even though the scheme is in surplus, it starts to look like it is a policy of theirs to discriminate against a subset of their beneficiaries, and I think that is illegal. I...

I think there is a slightly harder case, which is examples where schemes had an established practice of paying discretionary increases—my hon. Friend the Member for North Durham mentioned Nissan cases from before the turn of this century, where that was the practice—and that was seen as the norm, and...

I think there is a slightly harder case, which is examples where schemes had an established practice of paying discretionary increases—my hon. Friend the Member for North Durham mentioned Nissan cases from before the turn of this century, where that was the practice—and that was seen as the norm, and...

I can understand why the Minister thinks those cases are harder; in some respects, they are less hard, because in those cases changes have been made reflecting circumstances. In the cases that I am talking about, there is a policy to discriminate against a settled group of beneficiaries. That is...

I can understand why the Minister thinks those cases are harder; in some respects, they are less hard, because in those cases changes have been made reflecting circumstances. In the cases that I am talking about, there is a policy to discriminate against a settled group of beneficiaries. That is...

I hear the right hon. Member’s point. I am not going to comment on individual legal cases, obviously, but the basis of the distinction at 1997 reflects the decisions taken in 1995 by a previous Conservative Administration to introduce statutory indexation, but not wanting to do that for accruals that...

I hear the right hon. Member’s point. I am not going to comment on individual legal cases, obviously, but the basis of the distinction at 1997 reflects the decisions taken in 1995 by a previous Conservative Administration to introduce statutory indexation, but not wanting to do that for accruals that...