Pension Review: Phase 2

Lord Palmer of Childs Hill Excerpts

Wednesday 18th December 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

I fully accept that the noble Baroness may not be alone in this place in that declaration of interest. The ombudsman’s review is something to which the Government have already made their response. It was published yesterday, and I repeated a Statement in the House that was made by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State.

As noble Lords will be aware, the Government looked very carefully at the evidence that was provided to and by the ombudsman, and we concluded that while we accept the specific case of maladministration by allowing a 28-month delay in sending out personalised letters to women born in the 1950s, the Government could not accept that that created the impact the ombudsman had described and therefore could not accept the recommendation on injustice and remedy. I am also very aware of the widespread concern among many women who had hoped to retire at 60 and found that they could not, which is a mixture of the decision back in 1995 to equalise the state pension age and the decision of the coalition Government in 2011 to accelerate those changes. That was not a subject of the ombudsman’s review, and nor is it the subject of the pensions review.

[Lord Palmer of Childs Hill (LD)]

My Lords, the Minister talks about the two stages of the pensions review, which is very important. Can she confirm that the modelling by the Government Actuary—and I stress that—shows that the measures in stage 1 of the pensions review will, at best, only slightly improve member outcomes? Those are his words, not mine. Can she give me some reassurance that stage 2 will be given the priority it deserves? Can we get a timescale for when we will get to stage 2? I know the Minister cares about pensioners, and this review is necessary.

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord. We share that; we both care about pensioners. This Government are absolutely committed to making sure that outcomes for pensioners from private pension savings are as good as they can be. Both phases matter. It matters absolutely that we get the pensions market working properly the first time around. The noble Lord will be aware that measures have been announced for the pensions Bill, but there are live consultations on a range of measures that can enhance both growth for the UK and outcomes for savers.

It really matters. We want to end up, as our proposal suggests, with fewer, but better and bigger, pension schemes. All the international evidence suggests that consolidation and scale produce better results for savers. That, in the end, is what will drive private pension incomes. If we can get the market working well, we can try to get people saving as much into it as they need to.