Pensions

My Lords, I have never sought to underestimate the challenge currently facing private pensions. The Government’s efforts to establish a pension regulator and restore confidence in the sector are very important, but anyone who has any understanding of the private pensions field will understand that there are considerable pressures on those seeking to manage those pensions. What is so important about the establishment both of a consensus and of a much less complex pension system generally, where there are clear incentives to save and every encouragement is given to do so, is that a much more stable base is established on which to deal with these matters. Regarding annuities, when I say that the Government will keep the matter under review, that means we will keep it under review. We have reached a position at the moment, and we are not persuaded to make a change, but nothing is ruled out for all time and we will listen to arguments as they are made. On the question of consensus, I will arrange for a meeting of all Peers after the Recess. I will bring officials too, so we can go into some of the details. I very much wish to take part in a debate with noble Lords on this topic, and I am sure that between us we can ensure such a debate takes place before the Summer Recess. There has been a lot of debate on public sector pensions. The outline agreements that have been reached will realise £13 billion for taxpayers over 50 years. The comfort I would give to the noble Lord is this: the Civil Service turnover is over 10 per cent a year, and on that basis we could estimate that by 2033 about 85 per cent of civil servants will be in the new schemes. In that sense, just as in many private sector pension schemes, we are moving into a new phase where working over the age of 60 will become the norm. The agreement is consistent with the general rise in state pension age.