Clause 18
Pensions Bill
11:00 am
Paul Rowen (Shadow Minister, Work & Pensions; Rochdale, Liberal Democrat)
It will be interesting to see what happens when we get to that discussion. This part of the Bill talks about quality. We are saying that people can carry on owing sums of money and that the viability of the scheme does not matter, but I am thinking about the Robert Maxwells of this world. I can imagine what such people might do with that flexibility. The whole point about a prescribed period is that while we accept that there can be difficulties and that companies can go through bad periods whatever, we ultimately want things sorted out within a defined period. Leaving things open, which is what the Minister is saying, means that that can go on for ever. As I say, people will exploit that.
I will be interested to see how the pensions regulator will regulate the situation without a definition in the Bill. That is the point of saying what the prescribed period should be. We are not saying, “Here, now”, but that there needs to be some agreement. Earlier, I said that that period should be a cycle—I accept that there is an economic cycle to things. That cycle should be defined and acceptable. I do not know whether it would be a three, five or 10-year period—the actuaries would have to work that out—but we ought to be saying that that is the period in which any shortfall should be made up. To do otherwise would leave the door open for certain people to go out and take advantage.