Pensions and Social Security

John Bercow Excerpts

Wednesday 13th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

We come now to motion 6 on pensions, with which we will debate motion 7 on social security.

[The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Steve Webb)]

I beg to move,

That the draft Guaranteed Minimum Pensions Increase Order 2013, which was laid before this House on 28 January, be approved.

[Mr Speaker]

With this we shall consider the following motion, on social security benefits uprating:

That the draft Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2013, which was laid before this House on 28 January, be approved.

[Steve Webb]

The guaranteed minimum pensions order is a routine and technical order which provides for contracted-out defined benefits schemes to increase their members’ GMPs that accrued between 1988 and 1997 by 2.2%, in line with inflation. I assume that this will be uncontentious. The order paired with this is the Social Security Benefits Up-rating Order 2013.

I shall begin with the basic state pension. Despite the tough fiscal context, the Government remain committed to protecting those who have worked hard all their lives, which is why we have stood by our triple lock commitment to uprate the basic state pension by the highest of earnings, prices or 2.5%. This year the third element of our triple lock comes into play for the first time—our 2.5% minimum commitment. That means that we shall be increasing the basic state pension by more than inflation for millions of pensioners.