Pensions Commission

Baroness Finlay of Llandaff Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

I now realise that I did a terrible job, because repeatedly during the passage of the Pension Schemes Act I tried to explain why that was not right, and I utterly failed—I will have one last go. The Government set out a pensions investment review to look at the state of the landscape of private pension saving. We then recognised that, if we want people to save more for their retirement in private pensions, we need to make sure that they will get the returns they need. The Pension Schemes Act is now laying the ground to make sure that private pension savers are getting the returns, so that if the Pensions Commission looks at it and decides there needs to be more private pension saving, the people who make those savings will get the return on that hard-earned money. It does all come together. I know the noble Lord was not able to be there, but I did a briefing yesterday, open to all Peers, on what is happening in the pensions area, and we set out a road map showing how all these things come together; I would be very happy to send him a copy of that.

[Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (CB)]

My Lords, in welcoming the Minister back to her seat, with her in-depth knowledge of all these topics, can I ask whether the Pensions Commission will explore how access to the state pension for terminally ill people of working age who are too ill to continue working can be made available? A large number of them have already paid 35 years of contributions but, because they are young, they are not accessing the pension at a time when they desperately need it.

[Baroness Sherlock (Lab)]

My Lords, I am not pre-empting anything that the commission will say, but the Government are very aware of the position of people who have terminal illnesses. As the noble Baroness of course knows very well, we have looked at some of the rules around how, for example, the benefits system can best assist people. She may be aware, from a Question answered by my noble friend Lord Livermore in which she was very much involved, that the Government have agreed to look at the way in which the tax system more broadly treats that and how we will address it. All those things are being looked at in the round. What the Pensions Commission does is up to it and I wait to hear what it has to say.