Clause 1 - Entitlement
State Pension Credit Bill [Lords]
10:45 am
Mr Tim Boswell (Daventry, Conservative)
My hon. Friend agrees. Perhaps the Minister feels the same way. The Bill is a complex piece of legislation. Essentially, it says that there shall be a guarantee analogous to the minimum income guarantee that will take over from it. It will be effected by a guarantee credit paid to pensioners as part of their pension. It is relatively straightforward and precedented by present practice, although there are welcome changes and improvements about which I do not argue. However, beyond that is a savings guarantee, which does not mean that people will receive more money than they would with a flat rate set at the level of the minimum income guarantee as an entitlement, and in addition their own income. It means that their income will be withdrawn at a particular pace, and we may want to debate that later.
Of course I concede to the Minister that, as a payment is to be made alongside the state pension, in his view it is supplementary to that pension and designed to reward saving, and he would regard it as a state benefit. I, however, would regard it the other way round, as a phased withdrawal of the benefits of retaining a full private entitlement. However, we could argue endlessly about that. The question is whether it is to be tied around the neck of the state.
I have a further reservation relating to the amendments—the use of the word ''state''. I admit that, possibly because of analogy with the amendments, I slipped into using the words ''state retirement pension'', which many of us use as a term of art. However, I am not aware of any formal titles that
include the word ''state''. The last time that I can think of anything similar in a benefit, it was national assistance, introduced by the National Assistance Act 1948, and was the precursor to income support. The word ''national'', rather than the word ''state'', was used. Will the Minister explain his thinking in using the word ''state''?