Clause 2
10:30 am
Jeremy Browne (Taunton, Liberal Democrat)
The territory here is similar to that which concerned the amendments that I tabled to the previous clause. Clause 2 will require HMRC to issue a notice of eligibility to each person who qualifies under clause 3. The crucial point to draw out with the amendment is the requirement that the notice of eligibility should include an expiry date. If one is eligible, one continues to be so until eligibility ceases. Unless one can see into the future, the expiry date would not necessarily be an accurate prediction of eligibility.
For example, if one were to leap forward to clause 3, one of the eligibilities is severe disablement allowance. One can imagine that unless an amazing cure were invented in the meantime, that allowance would continue beyond the recorded expiry date. However, eligibility for jobseeker’s allowance may not. The Economic Secretary clarified that that would continue for the whole period; even if one were only eligible for a day and then became employed as a premiership footballer on £70,000 a week, one would still be eligible for the remaining two years to draw this very generous support from the taxpayer.
Some of the criteria, however, would be permanent. An expiry date in those circumstances may create an extra administrative burden on the people who would have to reapply, or who may allow their eligibility to lapse unwittingly. They would then have to demonstrate their eligibility again, even though they were claiming on the same basis as the first time around.
The point is one of ease of access for people who may be disinclined to partake in such initiatives and incentives. It would not be desirable to put extra barriers in their way; we all share the same objectives. If people are eligible to start a saving gateway account, it does not necessarily need to be made clear when they may or may not cease to be eligible in the future.