§ Mrs. LawrenceTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to allow members of occupational schemes to make contributions to stakeholder pensions. [129604]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonWe will shortly table an amendment to the Finance Bill to allow members of an occupational pension scheme, who earn under £30,000 per year and who are not controlling directors, to contribute up to £3,600 a year to a personal or stakeholder pension scheme. This will extend the opportunity of new low cost, good value, portable stakeholder pensions to about 8 million more people. It will allow nearly 90 per cent. of employees who have an occupational pension to also pay into a stakeholder pension.
A copy of the joint Inland Revenue/Department of Social Security press notice, giving further details of the arrangements, will be placed in the Library of the House.