Pensions Bill

I thank my noble friend Lady Hollis for raising this important issue, which is clearly supported across the Committee. I shall confine my remarks to stranded pots, which is the substance of the issue to which she spoke. We have made clear our commitment to banning pension transfers into and out of personal accounts. As the Committee will be aware, this prohibition is designed to minimise the impact on the market caused by the scheme’s introduction in 2012 and to ensure that the scheme remains focused on the target market of low to moderate earners. The transfer ban is designed to promote simplicity for employers, individuals and the personal account scheme, as transfers can involve complex financial decisions and processes for all parties. We recognise, however, that some personal account members at the point of retirement may wish to consolidate their pension savings into a single vehicle and that the transfer ban could complicate their arrangements. I am sympathetic to my noble friend’s concerns that the personal account scheme should facilitate ways to maximise retirement incomes. I should like to examine our approach to those individuals with stranded pots that are too small to be economically attractive to annuity providers but when combined with the value of other pension funds are not eligible for trivial commutation. Allowing individuals in this scenario to transfer their personal accounts funds to and from the scheme could promote the consolidation of pension saving while keeping with our commitment to focus the scheme on the target market. I assure my noble friend that the scheme order with regard to transfers in and Clause 111 with regard to transfers out provide us with sufficient flexibility to legislate if we decide that these exceptions should apply. We would like to discuss this issue with stakeholders over the summer in advance of developing the likely content and approach for the secondary legislation, the scheme order and the non-legislative scheme rules for a public consultation in March 2009. I am therefore confident that we can make progress on this issue. With those assurances, I hope that my noble friend will not press her amendment.