Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential (a) merits, (b) impact on pension saving and (c) impact on encouraging the economically inactive to return to work of excluding occupational pensions from the assessment of means tested employment benefits.
Answered by Guy Opperman - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
It is entirely appropriate that means-tested benefits take account of occupational pension income. A guiding principle for means-tested benefits is that they are not paid to people who have sufficient other income available to meet the same need. However, this is normally only done where a person has reached the retirement age for the scheme in question. This enables the applicant to maximise their occupational pension in retirement and should not de-incentivise people with health conditions from taking steps to return to work.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to enable the Pension Protection Fund to provide inflation protection for the Guaranteed Minimum Pension element of pensions in the schemes within its remit.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
While all legislation is kept under review as a matter of course, there are currently no plans to review the Pension Protection Fund legislation in relation to inflation protection on Guaranteed Minimum Pensions. The Secretary of State therefore does not intend to make such an assessment at this time.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in the context of recent increases in inflation, what recent assessment he has made of the impact on the value of pensions received by members of the Pension Protection Fund of the provisions of the Pensions Act 2005 on the non-indexation of defined benefits pension rights accrued prior to 6 April 2007.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
While all legislation is kept under review as a matter of course, there are currently no plans to review legislation relating to the indexation of payments from the Pension Protection Fund and the Secretary of State has made no such assessment at this time.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in the context of proposed reductions in levies charged by the Pension Protection Fund, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of maintaining levies and allocating any surplus to provide inflation protection to defined benefits pension rights accrued prior to 6 April 2007.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Operational decisions about the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) levy are a matter for the Board of the PPF. The Secretary of State has made no assessment of potential merits to maintain the levies raised by the PPF, and re-allocating any surplus to provide inflation protection.
Asked by: Richard Fuller (Conservative - North East Bedfordshire)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to enable the Pension Protection Fund to provide inflation protection for pensionable service prior to 6 April 1997 for pensions in the schemes within its remit.
Answered by Laura Trott - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
While all legislation is kept under review as a matter of course, there are currently no plans to review the PPF indexation rules, or indeed the wider legislation to which they relate. The Secretary of State has therefore made no such assessment and does not intend to do so at this time.