Clause 1 - Entitlement
State Pension Credit Bill [Lords]
12:00 pm
Ms Maria Eagle (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Minister for Disabled People), Department for Work and Pensions; Liverpool, Garston, Labour)
I am happy to answer such points one after the other, not at the same time; otherwise I shall be speaking gobbledegook to the Committee. I shall do my best to go through them.
We are applying the habitual residence test. It has been in existence for some years and was introduced for understandable reasons by the Conservative Government as a curb on the possible abuse of the benefit system by benefit tourists or by people with little or no recent connection with this country. In large part, that test applies to all income maintenance benefits. Different tests apply to other parts of the state support system, whether they be taxation or tax credits, but the habitual residence test applies in respect of benefit.
We are not proposing to change that system under the Bill. We want to retain the same test for pension credit that exists for other income maintenance benefits. That is not to say that the habitual residence test that we inherited was perfect. Indeed, we thought that it was deficient in several aspects and in the previous Parliament we made significant changes to improve it. If it would assist the Committee, I can elaborate on that although the hon. Gentleman did not refer specifically to the habitual residence test. We are not suggesting a different test for the benefit from that for other benefits so, in that sense, we are building on the current system.
As a lawyer in a former life, I am probably as aware as other lawyers in the Room—I have not checked my ''Dod's Parliamentary Companion'' to see if there are any, but they lurk in the most surprising of places—that it is dangerous to change the wording of eligibility criteria. That would be like a red rag to a bull not only to those lawyers who may be looking to take test cases, but to judges who may hear them. Rightly, if Parliament in its wisdom uses different words for eligibility and calls it something other than ''habitual residence'', the courts would assume that there was a difference and would want to know what it was. We are not seeking to change the current eligibility for the minimum income guarantee, which is built on income support, as the hon. Gentleman knows. We are reproducing the test, and are not trying to make any significant changes.