Pensions Bill

I thank my noble friend for raising this important issue and for the debate that has taken place. She touches again on the cliff edge, which we debated earlier. We acknowledged that if these matters could be phased in gently and still enhance the position of many women, that would be worth doing. The cliff edge arises because we have determined to introduce the measure in 2010 because that is the way to maximise the benefit, particularly for women. The group of amendments that we just debated concerned the payment of national insurance contributions after pension age. This amendment seeks to give greater flexibility over the payment of voluntary contributions to fill gaps in the working life when the contributor was not working for whatever reason. It would, in effect, remove the current time limit for paying voluntary contributions and allow people to wait until the very last minute—just before claiming their state pension—to make up missing years. That has the support of the EOC, and it would especially help women to achieve a full pension. However, the amendment would only benefit people reaching state pension age after 5 April 2010. Itwould not therefore help those who do not benefit from the provisions in this Bill. I do not believethat was intended, but that is the effect of the amendment. Time limits for payment of voluntary contributions are dealt with by regulations made under Section 13 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992, and noble Lords may be aware that the responsibility rests with HM Treasury. By way of background, the existing rules for paying voluntary contributions allow contributors up tosix years to pay the voluntary contributions due in a particular tax year, although in certain circumstances the time limit can be extended. The time limits were extended from two years to six years for tax years from 1982-83 onwards. As my noble friend identified, there are extended time limits for the 1996-97 to 2001-02 years. Contributors have until 5 April 2009, or 5 April 2010 if they reached pension age before 24 October 2004, to pay voluntary contributions for those years. That extension was introduced because from the 1996-97 year the then Contributions Agency suspended its annual deficiency notices exercise. That exercise is used to notify contributors that a tax year is not a qualifying year for benefit purposes and to give them the opportunity to pay voluntary contributions. When it was reinstated, the time limits were extended to allow contributors at least the amount of time to pay that they would have had if the notices had been issued at the correct time. The current rules are already widely drawn and allow those over state pension age to pay voluntary contributions to fill gaps in their contribution record. For example, a contributor reaching state pension age today, who did not pay voluntary contributions in the 2006-07 tax year, would have until 5 April 2013 to pay those voluntary contributions, albeit at the voluntary contribution rate applicable in 2012-13. That gives those retiring the same wide degree of flexibility as someone yet to retire. We do not believe that it would be appropriate to remove the time limits for paying voluntary contributions. It would be incongruous to allow people unlimited time to pay voluntary contributions when those who are employed or self-employed have no choice about when they pay national insurance contributions. Time limits are an important feature of the ““pay as you go”” system of NICs, in that current payments of contributions pay for current claims to contributory benefits. The amendment would distort that feature by incentivising delayed payment. We are not aware of any evidence that the time limits are too restrictive for those who generally pay voluntary contributions. Also, we would not wish to create an incentive for people to delay paying voluntary contributions until the last minute, because it would create additional complexity and add to the costs of administering those arrangements. The amendment restricts to nine the number of years for which voluntary contributions can be paid over a working life by someone just about to claim their pension. I am not sure whether that was intended. That would be less generous than the current arrangement, which imposes no restriction on the number of years for which an eligible contributor can pay voluntary contributions, subject to the relevant time limits. You can pay class 3 contributions for 30 years so long as you pay them in each case within the six-year time limit. Such a restriction would add complexity to the current arrangement, and it would ill-serve the very people who my noble friend seeks most to help. In conclusion, the existing time limits for payment of voluntary contributions are both appropriate and necessary. However, I recognise that some people would still not achieve a full basic state pension, despite the more generous arrangements in the Bill. But to allow them to make up missing years at the point when they are due to retire would require them to make complex financial decisions. For example, it might not be sensible for a married woman with a smaller basic state pension based on her own national insurance contributions to pay voluntary contributions when she reaches state pension age if she would be entitled to a higher pension based on her husband’s national insurance record. I understand the concerns that have been raised and assure noble Lords that we will keep under review the current arrangements for paying voluntary contributions. I remind noble Lords that changes to the time limit can be made by secondary legislation if they are deemed to be necessary. On the issue of cost—although the amendment would apply only to people retiring post-2010—we have produced estimates that assume that people who are projected to reach state pension age in 2007, 2008 and 2009 without a full basic state pension, and assume that they buy as many extra qualifying years as are needed to provide a full basic state pension, up to a maximum of six years, when they reach state pension age. Those costs, which my noble friend described as ““modest””, would provide net benefits in 2007, 2008 and 2009 of £1 million, £0.5 million and £0.2 million respectively. Thereafter, there would be costs in the order of £0.8 billion, £0.9 billion through to £0.8 billion in 2030. Those costs would then begin to tail off.