State Pension Underpayment Errors

Baroness Altmann Excerpts

Tuesday 16th May 2023 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Younger of Leckie (Con)]

Of course they are important. Any underpayment is incredibly important, as I am sure the noble Baroness would agree. The department became aware of issues with state pension underpayments in 2020 and, as mentioned earlier, the issues go back several decades and through different Governments. We have taken immediate action to investigate the extent of the problem and are carrying out highly complex scans of computer systems. Correction activity commenced on 11 January 2021; I say again that this is an important matter and we are moving at pace.

[Baroness Altmann (Con)]

My Lords, as the exercise is focusing on women, and women’s state pensions are still noticeably lower than those of men, are those who are entitled to arrears also entitled to some kind of compensation or consolation payment? How is my noble friend’s department prioritising the work?

Pension Protection Fund and Occupational Pension Schemes (Levy Ceiling) (No. 2) Order 2023

Baroness Altmann Excerpts

Wednesday 26th April 2023 Grand Committee

Finally, is it possible to update the Committee on the DWP’s view on the maturing of the PPF, which is a kind of shift in its position? I appreciate that it may not be possible to make a verbal response to that, but a written response would be helpful.

[Baroness Altmann (Con)]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Davies, on securing this debate; it is an important one. At the outset, I say that I believe that the Pension Protection Fund has done and is doing an excellent job, and member experience in the PPF seems to be very positive—for me, that is one of the big tests of whether this is working well. The administration is very efficient, and the amount of compensation being paid is reaching those who need it, and are entitled to it, well.

I also congratulate the noble Lord on his foresight in 1995. I recall first becoming involved with Allied Steel and Wire and the various other pension schemes whose members had lost their entire pension very close to the point at which they were expecting to start receiving it, together with all their other life private savings —in those days, if you wanted to have any extra pension contributions you had to put all of it into your employer’s pension scheme. I remember reading about the proposals for a central discontinuance fund and thinking, “If only”. It informed my conversations with the No. 10 Policy Unit, the Treasury and the economic advisers to the Prime Minister at the time as to which way we needed to go to improve the situation the country faced. Over the subsequent two to three years, more and more pension schemes failed, and more and more members started losing their pensions; it was a serious and heartbreaking time. Members, having been told that they were fully protected, would have expected that all their money was safe. They were told that, regardless of what happened to their employer, their money was safe and that their pension was protected—but it turned out not to be the case.

Instead of the proposal from the noble Lord, Lord Davies, of a central discontinuance fund, we got the actuarial profession’s minimum funding requirement. Unbeknown to members—and, indeed, to most pension professionals outside actuarial circles—that was designed to deliver only a 50:50 chance of people receiving their full pensions, and yet members, trustees and employers were told that, on that basis, their fund was fully funded or in surplus. Unfortunately, what happened subsequently, around the end of the 1990s, with the market crash, was that those surpluses melted away. It looked as though the benefits had been secure but, suddenly, the market crash made that position unsafe. We saw that those so-called surpluses were in fact buffers against bad markets, rather than real surpluses—you could judge that only with hindsight in the end.

This is my concern about the Pension Protection Fund. I absolutely want to try to ensure that anyone who has a pension insured by the Pension Protection Fund receives as much as possible. If there were a secure way of ensuring that they did not fall behind while we are suffering this cost of living crisis, I would be the first to support it. My thinking has perhaps been coloured by my experience during those dreadful years, before we got the Financial Assistance Scheme sorted out in 2007—it started around 2008—of seeing people who thought that their pensions were in surplus and that their position was secure finding that, because markets had moved suddenly and unexpectedly and in a way that had never been properly forecast, their pension had disappeared.

I also believe that, although the PPF looks as though it is in surplus now, we need to address what happens should there be a severe economic dislocation causing some of the huge pension schemes, which currently seem safe—and even some of the open schemes —to fail and fall into the same problem. This is an insurance policy rather than a pension, which, for me, is an important distinction.

I would love the Government to find a way to underwrite more generous increases for the Pension Protection Fund. I am particularly mindful of the fact that, before 1997, benefits had no inflation protection at all, yet many schemes—but by no means all—offered full inflation linking, or at least up to 5%. In that pre-1997 period, the older the member was when their scheme failed, the more pension they lost as a result of the failure, because they would have had more accrual.

I support the concept that the noble Lord, Lord Davies, is promoting: that in a time of economic difficulty, with inflation roaring away, we do not want to leave pensioners behind. It is clearly the case that the Pension Protection Fund is, to some degree, leaving pension members behind in real terms. To some degree, it was modelled on the American PBGC, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. Generally speaking, in America there is no inflation protection at all on these DB schemes, so the UK has always been a little unusual in that regard. Having said that, it makes sense to look at the structure of the levy and I echo the questions for my noble friend about plans for the future management of it.

Charitable Sector: Food Provision

Baroness Altmann Excerpts

Monday 27th March 2023 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Younger of Leckie (Con)]

I fully understand that some people prefer to use cash, and that is certainly possible. I will have to write to the noble Baroness on the spread of where cash can be used.

[Baroness Altmann (Con)]

My Lords, I do congratulate the Government on all the work that they have done in this area to try to help the most disadvantaged. I know that my noble friend cares deeply about these issues. Of course, the working poor have a real need, but can my noble friend tell the House what evidence there is that pensioners are using food banks, and what action the Government are taking to address pensioner poverty?

[Viscount Younger of Leckie (Con)]

My noble friend will not be surprised to hear me say that we are committed to action that helps alleviate levels of pensioner poverty. In answer to one of her questions, the HBAI statistics recorded that fewer than 100,000 pensioners were living in households where a food bank had been used. However, despite those figures, there is more to do.

The figures show that there are 200,000 fewer pensioners in absolute poverty than in 2009-10. Pension credit provides a vital financial support to pensioners. This is one of the actions that has been and is being taken by the Government, and it is proving to be very successful, with a 73% uptake in the last 12 months.

Pension Schemes: Guidance

Baroness Altmann Excerpts

Monday 13th March 2023 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Altmann]

To ask His Majesty’s Government, further to the report by Pensions For Purpose One year on—TCFD reporting for pension funds, published on 1 February, whether they intend to produce guidance for pension schemes in relation to their fiduciary duties.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Viscount Younger of Leckie) (Con)]

My Lords, by October 2022 occupational pension schemes with assets above £1 billion fell into scope of DWP’s requirements to report in line with the task force on climate-related financial disclosures, the so-called TCFD recommendations. The department published guidance alongside the requirements to help pension schemes improve the quality of governance and manage climate risk. DWP committed to review the requirements in late 2023 and will consider whether pension schemes require additional guidance in relation to their fiduciary duties.

[Baroness Altmann (Con)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that Answer and declare my interests as set out in the register. The Pensions for Purpose report highlighted a dilemma, in which some say that considering the real-world impacts of pension fund investments, including green or net-zero assets, infrastructure and housing, could be portrayed as trading off risk-adjusted returns against doing good. But does my noble friend agree that this is a false dichotomy? A failure to consider the climate and nature impacts of investments is likely to increase long-term risks and reduce returns, as opposed to pension funds that typically look at short-term performance measures. Can my noble friend ask relevant Ministers in the Treasury whether they will consider accepting relevant amendments that have been laid to the Financial Services and Markets Bill?

[Viscount Younger of Leckie (Con)]

Well, I will not be drawn on that by my noble friend, but the comments that she makes are broadly correct. It is very important that pension schemes, particularly those for purpose, encourage investments that align with the environment and society, and that includes climate change. I believe that the report, One Year On, outlines some pointers, insights or challenges. For example, most funds are using their investment consultants, while some are not yet using or including carbon offsets in their TCFD reports, but nothing in the findings so far is unfamiliar to DWP. We know there is work to do to improve the reports and build an element of expertise across the industries more generally.

Employment: Disabled People

Baroness Altmann Excerpts

Monday 6th March 2023 Lords Chamber

[Viscount Younger of Leckie (Con)]

Yes, indeed, I am aware of the question. Although I do not have an answer to that point, I will certainly write to the noble Baroness about it. I am not sure that she has asked it three times, but maybe she did so with my predecessor.

[Baroness Altmann (Con)]

My Lords, employment figures show that a significant number of older people have left the labour market. There is a large differential in healthy life expectancy across the country. Many people in their fifties and sixties are not well. Some may have left work due to ill health or disability but would be able to work part time. What more can the Government do to encourage flexible working to provide more help in this area?

[Viscount Younger of Leckie (Con)]

As my noble friend will know, all employees have the legal right to request flexible working provided they have worked for the same employer for at least 26 weeks. As she will know, under the Equality Act, employers must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that workers with disabilities are not substantially disadvantaged when doing their jobs. This could include a flexible working arrangement; for example, a change to the timing, hours or location of work. I assure her that in December 2022 the Government responded to a consultation that considered changes to this legislation to provide employees with better access to flexible working arrangements.

Pensions Dashboards (Prohibition of Indemnification) Bill

Baroness Altmann Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 3rd March 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Altmann (Con)]

My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend Lord Young on his excellent introduction and sponsorship of this important but limited Bill. I also congratulate our honourable friend Mary Robinson on introducing it in the other place. I am delighted that the Government and my noble friends on the Front Bench are supporting this Bill.

As my noble friend Lord Young has explained, the pensions dashboard should be, and I hope will be, an important element of the pensions landscape for ordinary people who have pensions savings and perhaps wish to know more about what they have in their pension fund. Given the complexities of pensions, and even with contributions going into them, so many people do not really understand or know quite how much money is going in on their behalf or how much is accumulating for them. So there is a job of work to do on financial education.

What is so important is that, once people can see all their pension information, they can be assured that the system in place to oversee the dashboards protects them. This Bill is an added element of the armoury that is so important in ensuring that rogue operators of a pensions dashboard would not be able to cover up their mistakes or pay for their mistakes by taking money out of individuals’ pension funds. It is hard to see how someone would argue against the measures in the Bill, which simply will mean that, if the person providing the dashboard or responsible for the dashboard is fined by the regulator for doing something against the rules, they cannot just take money out of the ordinary customers’ pension funds but would have to pay it themselves. Although my noble friend considers the penalties significant, one might argue whether a £5,000 fine, or even a £50,000 fine for a corporate, is sufficient to deter wrongdoing. I think the level of penalties is applicable across pensions and will, I hope, be sufficient to ensure that we have a safe system.

I have given my noble friend notice of a few questions I have about the dashboard, which are very important in terms of the programme itself, especially after the announcement yesterday by our honourable friend Laura Trott, the Pensions Minister, that the dashboard programme is going to be reset—whatever that might mean; we will find out soon.

The first question, which relates to the clear need to delay the introduction of this long-awaited measure, is on the security of Verify, or its alternative system, which is designed to protect members’ data. I do not know if my noble friend could update the House on that. Some of the problems were due to what we have learned recently about the errors in state pension records, especially for women, where many women have found that the information is incorrect and, in some cases, has been for many years—they were already in retirement and still had not had the correct amount. How is the department getting on with its correction exercise?

The other concern might be around the records and readiness of public sector pension schemes to connect to the dashboards. With the McCloud remedy needing to be implemented, there are going to be significant administration issues. Could my noble friend give us any comfort on that or an indication of timescales? I hope he can assure us that at least the Nest Pensions fund is ready for connection. That is a very large one, set up by the Government to cater for low-paid workers and people with small amounts of pension.

Finally, I ask for clarity from my noble friend on an issue I have raised so many times in this House, and have tried to insert in the legislation as it has been going through. What is the status of the checks on the accuracy of all pensions data? I understand that the fines we are discussing may be imposed if people fail to connect to a dashboard or do not have a service that works properly on the dashboard, but are there also fines and penalties for people who load incorrect data? It is not just about loading the information. Is there any requirement in law—and who would it fall upon and what would be the penalties for failure—to ensure that the pension information for each person has been checked and verified and is as accurate as that process could produce?

Overall, I welcome the Bill and am pleased that the Government are supporting it. I wish it safe, quick passage through the House.

Bereavement Benefits (Remedial) Order 2022

Baroness Altmann Excerpts

Tuesday 17th January 2023 Grand Committee

I have only one question for the Minister, about something I raised with his predecessor and her officials when she had a meeting on this subject. How will potential beneficiaries get to know that they are entitled to this benefit? The lady who got in touch with me decided to take a parliamentary route so has obviously seen every twist and turn and will know to apply, but there must be many people who simply accepted that they were not eligible and had no idea that this whole debate was going on, change would come and they were potentially entitled to a substantial lump-sum payment. I would be grateful for any further information that the Minister can give me on how this will be publicised, including what the interaction with citizens advice bureaux and MPs will be, to ensure that everyone who has not been able to claim this benefit from 2018 will now be able to do so.

[Baroness Altmann (Con)]

My Lords, I too very much welcome this order. I am most grateful to my noble friend the Minister for his excellent introduction and explanation.

Enabling co-habiting bereaved partners to be treated the same way as those who are legally married in claiming the widowed parent’s allowance or bereavement support payments is something for which I think there is unanimous support. Indeed, I have found it extraordinarily difficult to justify denying these payments to cohabiting couples in the past when, in other tax and benefit calculations, there is no differentiation in this way; often, that can be to their financial detriment. This order is most welcome.

Echoing the words of the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, I pay tribute to my noble friend Lady Stedman-Scott and welcome my noble friend Lord Younger to his position. I am most grateful to the Low Incomes Tax Reform Group for its briefing and the work it has been doing on this change and want to raise a few issues relating to the potential tax and benefit consequences of surviving partners receiving backdated lump-sum payments pursuant to this order. If the Minister does not have the answers today, I am happy for him to write to me.

The first issue relates specifically to the widowed parent’s allowance, as this benefit is taxable, unlike bereavement support payments. Lump-sum back payments could well give rise to tax demands for the recipients, when they are applied to past tax years for which they were due. In many cases, recipients are unlikely to have a tax adviser to help them look back over past years. They may have spent the money and, as a consequence of this order, face sudden tax demands and penalties for which they are unprepared. The documents accompanying this order state that the DWP will flag cases to HMRC, but how will this work in practice? Could it give rise to a potential problem for the claimants which, after all the years they have been waiting for this money, seems to be something to be avoided—if we can?

Paying the lump sums gross runs the risk of the money being spent. What measures can the Government implement in practice to protect claimants? Could my noble friend tell us, for example, how the DWP might work with the Treasury to jointly identify those who may be affected, perhaps by using national insurance numbers to link up records, and help people to understand how much tax they need to pay? The JCHR recommends that recipients should be clearly reminded, but might my noble friend consider going further and, perhaps, more proactively involving MoneyHelper or some other direct communication that clearly warns that tax may be due on this money, so that it does not come as a surprise?

The second issue relates to recipients of back payments who are on means-tested benefits. I welcome my noble friend’s confirmation that the lump sums resulting from this order will indeed be disregarded, but I hope he can also reassure us on a point that has been raised—it may already have been catered for—about whether, as I hope, there is a sensitive interpretation of the deliberate deprivation of capital rules. People who suddenly have a change in lifestyle because they have received a lump sum that they should have had over a period should not then be considered as deliberately depriving themselves of capital or should not lose out in some other way.

How will backdated lump-sum awards be treated for tax credits? I thought I heard my noble friend say that these are disregarded for universal credit and means-tested benefits, but is that the same for tax credits? I suspect it is not, from listening to my noble friend. It seems wholly unfair for the DWP to treat the payments as capital and disregard the income, other than that relating to the current year, when HMRC treats them as income in that year for the purpose of tax credits.

I know that tax credit legislation is complicated, and it refers to the amount of widowed parent’s allowance being payable. That may be what is driving some of this, but as this relates to past years, it was actually payable previously rather than being—one could argue—payable today. It seems like a grey area. I wonder if the Government might consider building a specific income disregard into regulations if the current position cannot be remedied.

Finally, I echo the comments of the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, on the importance of reaching out to potential claimants, particularly as there is a time limit, to ensure that people know that they can claim and come forward with their claims. This could be through some national advertising campaign, or maybe the Government already have a database with some indication of cohabiting couples or past claimants who were turned down who can be contacted. Overall, I very much welcome this order and thank my noble friend for his introduction.

[Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Viscount for his useful introduction and give a more general welcome; I suspect that we will be endlessly discussing a series of regulations over the coming months. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, for reminding us that there are people involved here. It is easy when you just have a printed set of regulations to think it is just shuffling paper, but there are real people out there who will benefit from these changes. Clearly, we have to welcome that.

Part of the problem is—I take the points raised by the noble Baroness—the mechanics of how this is operated: not what is set out in the regulations but how it will be applied in practice by the officials involved. It should be done as sensitively and practically as possible. I am particularly interested in taxation and how tax is applied to these payments. This is a particular problem which is going to get bigger, and we will be discussing it again. It is a result of the fact that, for all intents and purposes, state benefits are outside the PAYE system.

The problem is that we know the personal allowance will be frozen for a number of years, at a time when inflation is at high levels. With benefits tied to inflation and a frozen personal allowance, more and more pensioners are going to be dragged into the PAYE system on relatively limited amounts of non-state pension income, which will have to be used to pay the tax, potentially, on their state pension. Many people have state pensions in excess of the personal allowance given their credits under SERPS. I think this is going to be a growing problem. It is one I hope the DWP will be able to discuss with HMRC.

My personal situation is that I suffer from this. I have a pretty good state pension and I have to pay tax on quite a large slice of that income out of other income. I manage it because I have the resources to do so, but people on the margin are going to find it increasingly difficult. The example mentioned is one where the closest co-operation between DWP and HMRC is crucial. Politically, it would be advantageous to get the situation sorted, because it will lead to a lot of concern and debate.

My final point relates to the evidence requirements for cohabitation. Most rules applied in the social security sphere about cohabitation tend to be there to take away benefits rather than grant them. Will the department apply the same rules that it applies when it comes to means-tested benefits about cohabitation, or will there be a separate set of rules? If there is a separate set of rules, is there a possibility that it will work against the individual at both ends? To just put in the Explanatory Memorandum that the evidence requirements will be produced “in due course” rather misses the sharp end of this legislation. How it works in practice will depend on the evidence requirements, and it would be useful if we could be told a bit more about where the evidence requirements will fit as compared with other examples where cohabitation affects benefits of different sorts.

Covid-19: Work-related Cases

Baroness Altmann Excerpts

Monday 5th July 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Stedman-Scott (Con)]

There have been cuts to the budget in the past. That has been rectified and an increased budget has been put in place, as has an increased resourcing budget. As of the end of April, it had 2,670 staff. There has been an extra £14.2 million available to the HSE on top of its regular government funding. Additional funding has enabled it to continue to inspect significantly more workplaces.

[Baroness Altmann (Con)]

My Lords, I welcome the extra funding for the HSE. I hope that noble Lords will recognise the difficulty, with a widespread pandemic, of identifying whether a particular infection is caused in one setting or another. Therefore, I would be grateful if my noble friend might give a little more information on the role that the HSE has played during the pandemic.

[Baroness Stedman-Scott (Con)]

The HSE has been really busy and proactive during the pandemic in three key areas: regulating, by targeting businesses and organisations, to prevent workplace transmission; working with other government departments, developing, assisting and promulgating policy guidance and research; and providing other workplace regulatory functions, including market surveillance to ensure a safe supply chain.

Pension Credit

Baroness Altmann Excerpts

Monday 8th March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Stedman-Scott (Con)]

I will certainly take the suggestion of a review of benefits back to the department. I am afraid that I will have to write to the noble Lord about the issue of non-take-up as far as the budget is concerned.

[Baroness Altmann (Con)]

My Lords, I am delighted that the Government have included information about pension credit when writing to pensioners about their state pension increases. Will my noble friend tell the House whether that includes mention of the entitlement to all the other benefits that are passported to by pension credit? Will she confirm, if necessary in writing, whether my estimate of around a further £8,000 a year is potentially available to pensioners on pension credit—they may be getting very little of that benefit—in council tax, housing benefit and, indeed, £140 off their electricity bill in warm home discounts, which also suggests that the electricity companies may have some obligation to help on pension credit take-up?

[Baroness Stedman-Scott (Con)]

On the last point that the noble Baroness raises, I am happy to go back and find out the information. I will write to her and place a copy of my letter in the Library. I emphasise that our meeting with stakeholders in early May will include energy companies. I will certainly take her idea back to the department.

Commonwealth Countries: Reciprocal Pension Agreements

Baroness Altmann Excerpts

Monday 1st March 2021 Lords Chamber

[The Lord Speaker (Lord Fowler)]

I will call the noble Lord, Lord Randall, one more time. He is not there, so I call the noble Baroness, Lady Altmann, to ask her question.

[Baroness Altmann (Con)]

My Lords, I understand that the Government are in talks with Canada on possible reciprocal arrangements for state pensions uprating. Can my noble friend tell the House whether they are in discussion with any other countries on this issue, including those in the EEA, EFTA and the EU?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Baroness Stedman-Scott) (Con)]

The Government are currently negotiating social security agreements with the EEA and the EFTA countries—Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland—which aim to broadly mirror the new agreement with the EU. The UK state pension has been uprated in these countries as part of the long-standing provision which was in EU law before the UK left the EU, and the Government are seeking to continue state pension uprating for those in scope of the new arrangements. The Government are not in discussion with any other countries on reciprocal arrangements for pensions uprating.