§ 20. Mr. Palmerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will institute an inquiry into the present need for maintaining the pension upper limit of two-thirds of final earnings for the approval of occupational pension schemes for taxation relief under the Inland Revenue rules.
§ Mr. Denzil DaviesNo. Occupational pension schemes rely heavily on the statutory tax advantages afforded by approval by the Inland Revenue in order to build up their assets. It is necessary therefore to see that the tax reliefs are not used 737W to provide retirement benefits in excess of a reasonable level—and it has long been accepted that two-thirds of final remuneration is a reasonable maximum provision.