Pensions Bill

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Dearing, has been extremely eloquent and I want to add only a few words in support of the amendment moved by the noble Baroness, Lady Hollis. It is impossible to predict the circumstances in later life of people who now have or have had young families but have not made adequate contributions and want to be able to catch up. This applies almost exclusively to women, but not always. More and more men in middle age and later are finding that their own circumstances change dramatically. We know that many more men decide to leave their wives at the point at which the children are almost grown up. A lot of children now stay at home for much longer than they used to for all sorts of reasons that we do not need to go into now. They stay at home and they are a responsibility. Increasing drug and alcohol abuse makes the dependency of children as well as elderly people much more frequently a problem in families. Many women and some men now find that they have responsibilities they did not expect to have. We must help them. The noble Lord, Lord Dearing, made an impassioned plea; I support him and the noble Baronesses, Lady Hollis and Lady O’Cathain. We must do this for justice as well as for cost-effectiveness.