§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his oral statement of 27 March 2000,Official Report, column 47, concerning the number of people who will benefit from stakeholder pensions, if he will set out the basis for the figure of five million. [118223]
§ Mr. RookerOur estimate of the target group of five million people for stakeholder pension schemes is based on the number of people earning between around £10,000 and £20,000 who are not in an occupational pension scheme. Some of those initially in this group will have personal pensions and will therefore be unlikely to take up stakeholder pensions when they are first introduced. But the majority are making no personal contributions to a private pension scheme.
People outside this target group will also benefit from stakeholder pension schemes. We expect that some people on higher earnings will want to join a stakeholder scheme and our decision to relax the rules linking earnings and pension contributions will mean that, for example, carers, women taking breaks from work, students and children will also be able to contribute.
The number of people actually taking out a stakeholder pension scheme will depend on how stakeholder and other pensions are marketed by providers, and on individual choices by savers.