§ 5. Mr. R. Harrisasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance, in view of the necessity of encouraging the employment, without regard to age, of all who can give effective service and wish to do so, if he will give consideration as soon as possible to raising from £2 to £3 per week the earning limit of pensioners.
§ Mr. PeakeI would refer my hon. Friend to the reply given to the hon. Member for Edinburgh, West (Sir I. Clark Hutchison) on 20th June.
§ Mr. HarrisIs the Minister aware that the Conservative Party, in its Election manifesto, said it would encourage people to go on working voluntarily after reaching retirement age? What plans have the Government made for encouraging people to go on working after reaching retirement age, and what more effective way of doing it is there than by raising the earnings limit?
§ Mr. PeakeWe do encourage people to go on working beyond retirement age by giving very substantial increments to the pensions to those who defer retirement beyond the minimum age. So far as the earnings rule is concerned, I would remind the hon. Member of the danger that, if the earnings limit was raised too far, it would lead to large numbers of people who are now working full-time retiring on pension and supplementing their pensions by part-time earnings.