Clause 2
10:45 am
Mark Hoban (Shadow Minister, Treasury; Fareham, Conservative)
I add my welcome for your chairmanship, Mr Bercow, to the welcomes offered by other hon. Members. I want to speak to my amendment 23, which looks at the question of when the eligibility notice expires and is very much probing. Clause 2(2)(a) states that there will be an expiry date, but that date will be specified in regulations. Of course, the amendments were tabled before the regulations even appeared in the Vote Office yesterday.
Our suggestion here is that the expiry date be either three months after the date of issuance of the eligibility notice or cessation of eligibility, as set out in clause 3, which specifies the benefits that someone is entitled to, which then triggers their eligibility—whichever is earlier. I am trying to set out a sensible parameter for the expiry of the notice and I suggest three months; it may take someone a while, once they become eligible for benefits, to decide whether to open a saving gateway. They may need to consider whether their income would enable them to save £25 a month, or whatever amount happened to be specified. Perhaps there should be a reasonable period in place before the expiration of the notice and perhaps people would then have an incentive to think about it, rather than leaving things until the latest possible moment.
Also, considering the other qualifications on cessation of eligibility, once someone stops being eligible for a benefit, surely they should stop being eligible for a saving gateway. We touched on that topic when we debated the previous clause. That is the thinking behind amendment 23.