Pensions Bill

My Lords, I, too, hope that my noble friend the Minister and the Government will find themselves able to look sympathetically and constructively at the amendment tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Fowler. I should like to reiterate a couple of points that have been made. We have seen in recent years a substantial move towards people saving for their pensions by way of defined contribution schemes. The Government have smiled upon this; they have certainly not discouraged it, and all the signs are that that trend will continue. Although many people in defined contribution schemes must certainly be deeply worried about the future of their pension savings, there is, I think, no likelihood—and the present nightmare events in the stock market only reinforce this—that we shall see a return to defined benefit schemes as the norm, so people will have no choice. But as things are, and given that no one has been able to devise a way to smooth the exit into an annuity for people saving in money purchase defined contribution schemes, they face a kind of Russian roulette, and it is the responsibility of the Government to do what they can to help those people secure themselves in circumstances which could be absolutely catastrophic. The other point to reiterate is that the Government want people to save more. They want people to work for longer and to be more flexible about the moment of their retirement. You must have a pensions regime that supports them in that approach and in taking those decisions. The noble Lord, Lord Sanderson, said that the present circumstances in the market are very unusual, and indeed they are extreme. However, market fluctuations are entirely normal and, that being the case, it must be wrong to require people rigidly to annuitise and take their pension at a fixed age, certainly in the circumstances we are considering. It could be cruel and even ruinous to require people in defined contribution schemes to take their annuity according to the letter of the present law. So I very much hope that my noble friend will be able to tell the House that the Government are indeed looking urgently and seriously at the very sensible and practical proposal that the noble Lord, Lord Fowler, has put forward.