Clause 3 - Duty of employers to facilitate access to SaRA schemes
Rights of Savers Bill
3:00 pm
Malcolm Rifkind (Shadow Secretary of State for Work & Pensions & Welfare Reform, Work & Pensions & Welfare Reform; Kensington and Chelsea, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 20, in page 4, line 25, at end insert
‘, employing at least five employees’.
A certain pattern is emerging in this Committee, which may or may not continue. Time will tell. The amendment aims to ensure that the Bill conforms with what the House wished on Second Reading and what I originally intended. As the Committee is aware, the stakeholder provisions do not apply to any employer who has five or fewer employees, so that it does not put unreasonable and unfair burdens on small businesses. I understood that that was reflected in the wording of the Bill on Second Reading. On further consideration, we have concluded that the amendment is required to make it clear and beyond any misunderstanding.
The amendment is also highly relevant at this time because one of the most important recommendations of the Turner report is that its proposed savings scheme would not have a cut-off point if the proposal was endorsed. It is intended that all employees, regardless of the size of the business and even down to the smallest businesses that employ one or two people, will have an obligation to offer such a saving scheme. We feel that that is an unfair and unreasonable burden, and that is also the view of the Federation of Small Businesses, the CBI and others who have commented on such matters. It is important to make it clear that we have to get the balance right. For a corner shop, a garage, or some very small business, such a scheme would represent a significant administrative burden and potentially a financial burden if employers were expected to make contributions as well. I hope that the amendment will have the approval of the Committee.