§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security where an employee takes out a stakeholder pension through the access given by his employer and then changes job, what arrangements will ensure continued access to the same stakeholder pension. [71174]
§ Mr. TimmsThe Green Paper "Partnership in Pensions" indicated that the requirement on employers to provide access to stakeholder pension schemes, including the deduction of contributions from pay, would initially apply only to a single scheme nominated by the employer. An employee who moved to a new employer with a different nominated scheme and who wished to remain in his or her current scheme would be able to do so, but would need to make his or her own arrangements for passing contributions to the scheme, unless the new employer agreed to pass on contributions on a voluntary basis.
We believe it would be desirable in the longer term to move to a position where employers would be required to pass employees' contributions to any stakeholder scheme. Before doing so, we would want to ensure that such a requirement did not impose an undue administrative burden on employers. The Green Paper indicates that we plan to consult further on the idea of a clearing house for contributions, which could be helpful in reducing the cost to employers of passing contributions to a number of different schemes.