State Pension Reform

Debate between Marcus Jones and Steve Webb

Monday 14th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Steve Webb]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, because I understand the concern that any change creates for people. In 2017, I assure him, we will work out people’s pension rights under our new system— 35 years for the full £144, with deductions knocked off for past periods of contracting out—and if that figure amounts to less than the rights someone has already built up, they will start from the higher one. We will honour the past. People will not build up new rights under those sorts of arrangements, but those they already have will be honoured.

[Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)]

I have been contacted by many of my constituents over the last few months who have been concerned about the investment that they have already made in SERPS and in the state second pension. Will the Minister confirm that contributions already made will be honoured and that pensions will not be rounded down as a result of this policy?

[Steve Webb]

Yes, I can give my hon. Friend the assurance that he seeks. If a pension document says, “You have already built up a pension of £160, £170 or whatever”, people will get at least that amount. Going forward, people will not be able to build up those sorts of pensions in the future, but when they have built them up already, we will recognise those contributions.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Marcus Jones and Steve Webb

Monday 23rd January 2012 Commons Chamber

[Steve Webb]

I think the hon. Gentleman was a Minister in our Department under the previous Administration, and as he knows they chose not to cap charges but to give themselves powers to cap them if it proved necessary. At the moment, our judgment is that the early roll-out of auto-enrolment will deal with big firms who will give good deals and low charges and that we have more competition than was perhaps expected, with NEST coming in at around 0.5% and other providers at or below that point. We are encouraged by developments in the market but we are absolutely prepared to use the capping powers if it proves necessary.

[Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)]

16. What recent progress he has made on the youth contract.

Benefits Uprating

Debate between Marcus Jones and Steve Webb

Tuesday 6th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Steve Webb]

I know that the hon. Lady was a Minister in our Department, and she will understand that the way the housing benefit system works is that people in the social rented sector, provided that they are not over-occupying, get their full rent, whether it is increased by CPI or RPI. The fact remains that including mortgage interest in a measure of inflation for pensioners when, as she rightly says, most pensioners do not have an outstanding mortgage, is the wrong thing to do.

[Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)]

How much better off will the average pensioner in Nuneaton be following the introduction of the triple lock guarantee and the restoration of the link between earnings and pensions?

[Steve Webb]

For someone retiring this year on a full basic state pension, the triple lock, we estimate, will benefit them to the tune of about £13,000 over the course of their retirement. That is a very significant change whose effects we are not yet seeing in full because earnings growth is depressed, but as it returns to more normal times, pensioners in Nuneaton and elsewhere will see real increases year after year.