Saving Gateway Accounts Bill

I shall speak also to Amendment 12. The amendments would allow the Government to extend the category of individuals who are eligible for a saving gateway account beyond passporting. Amendment 8 refers to eligibility by reference to regulations to be made under proposed new subsection (2A), set out in Amendment 12. The combined effect of the amendments would allow eligibility to be set by reference to annual income rather than a successful claim for a specified benefit or tax credit. That is a wider concept than I argued for in my previous amendment. It would allow but not require the Government to extend the opportunity to save to other groups not included in the selected benefits set out in Clause 3(2). For example, it would allow carers on limited incomes to be drawn into the scheme whether or not carer’s allowance is claimed, and would go beyond the government amendments to which we shall come shortly. It would also allow older people who are poor to come within the scheme, regardless of their pension credit status. Pension credit take-up is another of the notoriously low take-up benefits. The amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady Hollis, which is a couple of groups away, goes only so far as pensioners who fall within the pension credit net. It would also allow the Government to extend the saving gateway scheme to slightly higher income levels than those within the means-tested benefits limits if that were thought to be socially desirable in terms of the aim of increasing savings. I am definitely not arguing that the Government should immediately extend the saving gateway scheme to all others on low incomes. Apart from the public expenditure implications, which could be very significant in view of the current economic situation, very careful consideration would need to be given to which groups would benefit most. However, I am arguing for the Bill to be more flexible so that if we return to an economic environment which allows the Government to pursue additional worthy schemes for incentivising savings, the saving gateway scheme could be extended without the need for further primary legislation. In my keenness to draft an additional power for the Government to extend the scheme, I forgot my parliamentary manners and omitted the essential affirmative order which would be necessary for such an extension of the saving gateway scheme. I should have tabled an amendment to Clause 27 because I certainly would not want the scheme extended as I have described without further parliamentary scrutiny. That apart, I believe that, if circumstances allow, the Bill should be able to move outside the envelope of simply passporting this measure by way of benefits or tax credits if that were thought desirable in the longer term. I argue simply for flexibility. I beg to move.