173

House of Commons

Tuesday 29th January 2008

Public Bill Committee

New Amendments handed in are marked thus

Other Amendments not tabled within the required notice period are marked thus

Pensions Bill

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Note

The Amendments have been arranged in accordance with the Order of the

Committee [15th January].

Danny Alexander

Paul Rowen

92

Clause  18,  page  8,  line  8,  leave out from ‘least’ to end of line 9 and insert ‘5% of

basic earnings in the pay reference period’.

Member’s explanatory statement

The purpose of this amendment is to ensure compliance with the new system is not too demanding

for employers.

Danny Alexander

Paul Rowen

89

Clause  18,  page  8,  line  17,  at end add—

‘(3)	The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision for a scheme to

continue to satisfy the quality requirement notwithstanding a shortfall in the

contributions over a pay reference period if the shortfall is paid within a

prescribed period after the end of the reference period.’.

Member’s explanatory statement

The purpose of this amendment is to ensure that an employer has a certain period of time to pay

any shortfall once the comparison between payment to the exempt scheme and notional payments

to personal accounts is made.

Public Bill Committee: 29th January 2008

174

Pensions Bill, continued

Danny Alexander

Paul Rowen

90

Clause  18,  page  8,  line  17,  at end add—

‘(3)    

(a)	the Secretary of State may by order approved by resolution of both House

of Parliament amend the lower limit of the employers’ contribution set

out in paragraph (1)(b) of this section.

(b)	the Secretary of State may by order approved by resolution of both

Houses of Parliament amend the lower limit of the total contribution paid

by the jobholder as the employer set out in paragraph (1)(c) of this

section.’.

Member’s explanatory statement

The purpose of this amendment is to ensure that contribution limits can be changed without the

need for primary legislation.

Danny Alexander

Paul Rowen

114

Clause  18,  page  8,  line  17,  at end add—

‘(3)	The Secretary of State must report annually on the extent to which employers

operating schemes defined under subsection (1) have reduced their

contributions.’.

Member’s explanatory statement

The purpose of this amendment is to ensure that employers are not levelling down their existing

pension schemes.

Mr Mike O’Brien

139

Clause  18,  page  8,  line  17,  at end add—

‘(3)	A scheme does not fail to satisfy the quality requirement under this section merely

because the trustees or managers of the scheme may on any occasion refuse to

accept a contribution below an amount prescribed for the purposes of this section

on the grounds that it is below that amount.’.

Member’s explanatory statement

The Amendment would enable money purchase occupational pension schemes to reject minor

amounts of contributions that it is not financially viable to accept, without affecting their ability to

satisfy the quality requirement. The Amendment provides for the amount that may be rejected to

be prescribed in regulations.

Danny Alexander

Paul Rowen

93

Clause  19,  page  8,  line  35,  at end add—

‘(5)	The Secretary of State must report annually on the extent to which employers

operating schemes defined under subsection (1) have reduced their contribution.’.

Member’s explanatory statement

The purpose of this amendment is to ensure that employers are not levelling down their existing

pension schemes.

Public Bill Committee: 29th January 2008

175

Pensions Bill, continued

Mr Nigel Waterson

Andrew Selous

Mr Stewart Jackson

Miss Julie Kirkbride

Mr John Greenway

23

Clause  20,  page  9,  line  4,  leave out subsection (3).

Danny Alexander

Paul Rowen

94

Clause  22,  page  9,  line  41,  at end add—

‘(5)	The Secretary of State must report annually on the extent to which employers

operating schemes defined under subsection (1) have reduced their contribution.’.

Member’s explanatory statement

The purpose of this amendment is to ensure that employers are not levelling down their existing

pension schemes.

Mr Mike O’Brien

140

Clause  24,  page  10,  line  28,  at end add—

‘(8)	A scheme does not fail to satisfy the quality requirement under this section merely

because the trustees or managers of the scheme may on any occasion refuse to

accept a contribution below an amount prescribed for the purposes of this section

on the grounds that it is below that amount.’.

Member’s explanatory statement

The Amendment would enable personal pension schemes to reject minor amounts of contributions

that it is not financially viable to accept, without affecting their ability to satisfy the quality re­

quirement. The Amendment provides for the amount that may be rejected to be prescribed in reg­

ulations.

Mr Mike O’Brien

126

Clause  26,  page  11,  line  2,  leave out ‘jobholder’ and insert ‘person’.

Member’s explanatory statement

This and amendments 128, 129 and 130 are related to New Clause 8 and enable wages to be de­

ducted by employers for the purposes of paying a worker’s pension contributions in the case of a

worker without qualifying earnings who opts in to pension savings.

Public Bill Committee: 29th January 2008

176

Pensions Bill, continued

Mr Mike O’Brien

127

Clause  26,  page  11,  line  2,  leave out third ‘a’ and insert ‘an occupational pension’.

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment is related to amendment 128. It preserves the position that clause 26 only applies

to occupational pension schemes.

Mr Mike O’Brien

128

Clause  26,  page  11,  line  3,  leave out ‘or 6(3)’ and insert ‘, 6(3) or [Workers without

qualifying earnings](2)’.

Member’s explanatory statement

See Member’s explanatory statement for amendment 126.

Mr Mike O’Brien

129

Clause  26,  page  11,  line  3,  leave out ‘jobholder’s’ and insert ‘person’s’.

Member’s explanatory statement

See Member’s explanatory statement for amendment 126.

Mr Mike O’Brien

130

Clause  26,  page  11,  line  4,  leave out ‘jobholder’s’ and insert ‘person’s’.

Member’s explanatory statement

See Member’s explanatory statement for amendment 126.

Mr Mike O’Brien

131

Clause  27,  page  11,  line  15,  after ‘9’ insert ‘and [Workers without qualifying

earnings]’.

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment is related to New Clause 8 and is for the purpose of extending the compliance re­

gime to the duty imposed by that New Clause in relation to workers without qualifying earnings.

Mr Mike O’Brien

132

Clause  27,  page  11,  line  15,  at end add—

‘( )	In relation to section [Workers without qualifying earnings] this Chapter applies

as if references to a jobholder included references to a worker to whom that

section applies.’.

Member’s explanatory statement

See Member’s explanatory statement for amendment 131.

Public Bill Committee: 29th January 2008

177

Pensions Bill, continued

Mr Nigel Waterson

Andrew Selous

Mr Stewart Jackson

143

Clause  28,  page  11,  line  23,  leave out ‘may’ and insert ‘must’.

Member’s explanatory statement

The purpose of this amendment is to provide certainty in the content of compliance notices.

Mr Nigel Waterson

Andrew Selous

Mr Stewart Jackson

144

Clause  28,  page  11,  line  32,  leave out ‘may’ and insert ‘must’.

Member’s explanatory statement

See Member’s explanatory statement for amendment 143.

Mr Mike O’Brien

133

Clause  28,  page  12,  line  2,  after ‘8’ insert ‘and [Workers without qualifying

earnings]’.

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment is related to New Clause 8. It enables the Secretary of State to make regulations

about the application of the New Clause in cases where an employer fails to meet obligations under

that clause.

Mr Nigel Waterson

Andrew Selous

Mr Stewart Jackson

Miss Julie Kirkbride

Mr John Greenway

24

Clause  30,  page  13,  line  2,  at end add—

‘(g)	require the employer to pay interest in respect of any period for which

contributions remain unpaid.’.

Danny Alexander

Paul Rowen

95

Clause  31,  page  13,  line  14,  leave out from ‘within’ to ‘after’ in line 15 and insert

‘three months’.

Member’s explanatory statement

The purpose of this amendment is to ensure that contributions are paid within a reasonable time

period.

Public Bill Committee: 29th January 2008

178

Pensions Bill, continued

Danny Alexander

Paul Rowen

96

Clause  31,  page  13,  line  17,  at end insert—

‘(d)	if the contributions are not paid within one year of the due date a

requirement to pay interest of inflation or 5%, whichever is lower, on

unpaid relevant contributions.’.

Member’s explanatory statement

The purpose of this amendment is to ensure that job-holders are adequately compensated for em­

ployer non-compliance.

Mr Nigel Waterson

Andrew Selous

Mr Stewart Jackson

145

Clause  32,  page  14,  line  28,  at end add—

‘(h)	the Secretary of State shall have the power to apportion such amount as

the Secretary of State thinks appropriate of fixed penalty notice payments

for the benefit of qualifying jobholders in circumstances where their

employers are unable to pay the prescribed contributions.’.

Member’s explanatory statement

The purpose of this amendment is to provide the Secretary of State with powers to direct how mon­

ey raised from fixed penalty notices is allocated between the Regulator and qualifying jobholders.

Mr Nigel Waterson

Andrew Selous

Mr Stewart Jackson

146

Clause  35,  page  16,  line  1,  at end insert—

‘(f)	a notice under section 72 of the Pensions Act 2004 (c. 35) (provision of

information).’.

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment provides the Regulator with the power to review notices issued under section 72

of the Pensions Act 2004.

Mr Nigel Waterson

Andrew Selous

Mr Stewart Jackson

147

Clause  36,  page  16,  line  17,  leave out ‘may’ and insert ‘must’.

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment seeks to ensure that persons to whom notices have been issued under section 32

or 33 have a clear and absolute right to appeal their cases to the Tribunal.

Public Bill Committee: 29th January 2008

179

Pensions Bill, continued

Danny Alexander

Paul Rowen

97

Clause  36,  page  16,  line  29,  at end add—

‘(4)	The Secretary of State shall publish a report on the funding of the Pensions

Regulator Tribunal for references made under this section within 12 months of

the section coming into force.’.

Member’s explanatory statement

The purpose of this amendment is to ensure that the Pension Regulator has adequate funding to

successfully undertake its new role.

Mr Nigel Waterson

Andrew Selous

Mr Stewart Jackson

148

Clause  37,  page  16,  line  40,  at end add—

‘(3)	For the purposes of subsection (1), “wilfully” shall be subject to the same

requirement of reasonableness as is generally applied in employment law.’.

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment is intended to ensure that the interpretation of what constitutes an offence is pro­

portionate.

Mr Nigel Waterson

Andrew Selous

Mr Stewart Jackson

149

Clause  40,  page  17,  line  18,  at end insert—

‘(1A)

Records required in accordance with subsection (1) may be kept in any

reasonable manner.’.

Member’s explanatory statement

The purpose of this amendment is to provide flexibility in the methods of record keeping.

Mr Nigel Waterson

Andrew Selous

Mr Stewart Jackson

150

Clause  41,  page  17,  line  31,  after ‘such’, insert ‘reasonable’.

Member’s explanatory statement

The purpose of this amendment is to prevent unreasonable demands being placed upon a person

required to attend before the Regulator.

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Revised 29 January 2008