State Earnings-related Pension Scheme (Hansard, 3 April 2000)

§ 15. Mr. David Rendel (Newbury)
When he will publish further details of the inherited SERPS scheme announced on 15 March. [115879]

§ The Minister of State, Department of Social Security (Mr. Jeff Rooker)
As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State said in his statement to the House on 15 March, once we have developed the details of the scheme for inherited SERPS we shall put them to the House. The National Audit Office and the parliamentary ombudsman will be fully involved in developing the procedures. We want to ensure that we get the scheme right, so that we can deal with the problem we inherited. Later today, the Public Accounts Committee will begin its inquiry into the report.

§ Mr. Rendel
In his original statement, the Secretary of State said: We want to ensure that everyone who has been misled and has lost out gets redress.— [Official Report, 15 March 2000; Vol. 346, c. 308.] Can the Minister guarantee that there will be no cut-off point for claims?

§ Mr. Rooker
There will be a scheme, which will have to be submitted to the House for approval. I cannot say when that will happen: I cannot be certain whether it will be before the summer recess, or in the autumn.
We said at the time that we did not expect the scheme to be up and running until next year. We have delayed the date of the inherited SERPS change until 6 October 2002, 30 months later than would otherwise have obtained. There will then be a massive advertising scheme to get people to apply for their benefit. If people claim and can show that they have been misled by my Department owing to maladministration, they will be included in the scheme.
The scheme will not run for ever.

§ Mr. Rendel
Ah!

§ Mr. Rooker
I must make that clear: the scheme cannot run for ever. I do not know when and for how long it will run. Subsequently, we shall put to the House regulations that will be properly debated in both Houses. We simply do not have detailed answers to the legitimate questions asked by the hon. Gentleman, but I do not want to give him the impression that the inherited SERPS scheme will be open for the next 30 years, because it will not be.