Treasury

Torsten Bell Excerpts

Tuesday 14th April 2026 Written Corrections

The following extract is from consideration of Lords amendments to the National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pensions Contributions) Bill on 23 March 2026.

[Torsten Bell]

The hon. Member for Wyre Forest also asked questions about savings gaps, and he was right to do so. Unfortunately, however, he talked nonsense about that. He talked about the self-employed, low earners, women and those working for SMEs, all of whom do have lower pension savings rates, but all those groups who are under-saving are those least likely to use salary sacrifice. He talked about those on lower incomes, but as I said, 95% of those earning under £30,000 and contributing to a pension via salary sacrifice are completely unaffected. He claimed that the impact was largest on those on low earnings. That is nonsense, because 86% of contributions over £2,000 are from additional rate taxpayers. Those are the facts.

[Official Report, 23 March 2026; Vol. 783, c. 95.]

Written correction submitted by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury, the hon. Member for Swansea West (Torsten Bell):

[Torsten Bell]

… He claimed that the impact was largest on those on low earnings. That is nonsense; 87% of contributions over £2,000 are forecast to be from higher and additional rate taxpayers. Those are the facts.