Pensions Bill

moved Amendment No. 136AA: 136AA: After Clause 114, insert the following new Clause— ““Pre-1948 insurance affecting German pension entitlement (1) This section applies where the conditions in subsections (2) and (3) are satisfied. (2) The first condition is satisfied if it appears to the Secretary of State that a person (the ““pensioner””) is, or was immediately before death, a person— (a) whose German pension entitlement is (or was) reduced by one or more periods of pre-1948 insurance, or (b) who would have (or would have had) a German pension entitlement, but for one or more periods of pre-1948 insurance. (3) The second condition is satisfied if— (a) the insured person entered the United Kingdom as an unaccompanied child directly or indirectly from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia or Poland in the period beginning with 2nd December 1938 and ending with 31st May 1940, or (b) the Secretary of State otherwise considers it appropriate to give a direction under subsection (4). (4) At the request of the pensioner or (where the pensioner is dead) any other person claiming to be affected, the Secretary of State may direct that, on the giving of the direction, subsection (5) takes effect in relation to the period or periods of pre-1948 insurance. (5) On this subsection taking effect in relation to any period— (a) the insured person is deemed not to have been, not to have been deemed to be, and not to have been treated as being, insured for that period under the Widows’, Orphans’ and Old Age Contributory Pensions Acts 1936 to 1941 or under any provision of Northern Ireland legislation corresponding to those Acts, and (b) any contribution mentioned in section (Pre-1948 insurance: supplementary)(2)(b) or (c) is deemed not to have been credited to the insured person. (6) The Secretary of State may give directions specifying how any request for the purposes of subsection (4) must be made. (7) Where subsection (5) has taken effect in relation to a period or periods of pre-1948 insurance, the relevant authority may pay to any person an amount not exceeding any amount that would, but for subsection (5), have been payable to that person in respect of— (a) a benefit specified in section 20(1) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 (c. 4) (contributory benefits), or (b) a benefit specified in any provision of Northern Ireland legislation corresponding to that provision. (8) In this section— ““child”” means a person aged under 18; ““German pension entitlement”” means entitlement to benefits arising under insurance with the Deutsche Rentenversicherung, or any other entitlement that appears to the Secretary of State to be relevant for the purposes of this section; ““insured person”” is to be read in accordance with section (Pre-1948 insurance: supplementary); the ““relevant authority”” means— (a) in relation to a benefit within subsection (7)(b), the Department for Social Development in Northern Ireland; (b) in any other case, the Secretary of State; ““unaccompanied”” means unaccompanied by an adult family member.”” The noble Lord said: I wish to speak also to government Amendments Nos. 136AB, 141F, 141G, 142CA and 142CB. The purpose of these amendments is to remove an anomaly that has arisen as a result of the interaction between the pre-Beveridge UK pension arrangements, European Community law and German pension provision. These amendments seek to help individuals who came to the UK as children to escape the Nazi persecution in their home countries between 2 December 1938 and 31 May 1940. This operation became known as Kindertransport. There is no question but that coming to Britain was the best outcome for these children, but there was a tremendous variation in the fortunes of those who came. Some had benefactors who ensured that they received an excellent education and every advantage. Others were less lucky and were obliged to work in manual jobs straightaway, or as soon as they reached minimum school leaving age. Only the latter group would have been insured under the social insurance scheme as it existed before Beveridge’s reforms took effect in 1948. People insured under the old scheme were credited into the new national insurance scheme at that time and thereby have rights in the present UK state pension scheme. For most people this made little or no difference; for a minority it was advantageous. However, uniquely for certain of the Kindertransportees it transpired to be disadvantageous. When Germany opened its state pension schemes to the Kindertransportees in the early 1990s, some of them opted to take back their German nationality and to pay a voluntary contribution to join one of the schemes. These people were credited with German contributions for the period from 1939 to 1949. Those in manual occupations found that, under European Community regulations designed to prevent duplication of provision in the case of cross-border workers, their pre-1948 UK credits took precedence over the German credits, resulting in a reduced or, depending on their age, significantly reduced German pension. By way of comparison, those Kindertransportees who were not insured under the pre-1948 arrangement in the UK because they were in education or salaried non-insured occupations at the time were able to gain the full value of their German credits for this period. Understandably, the Kindertransportees were, and remain, much aggrieved by this disparity of treatment. These amendments enable a Kindertransportee who has a German pension entitlement that is reduced or extinguished by a period of pre-1948 insurance to request that they are deemed not to have had such insurance. I believe that it is right that we should seek to remedy this unfairness. I beg to move.