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747346

	registered interest
	date	03/07/2017
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Workplace Pensions: Tax Allowances
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of low paid workers' claims against their employers for the money they are due in tax relief if it is denied to them by their employer's choice of pension scheme.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Altmann
	uin	HL322
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/07/2017 answer text <p>The Government does not collect data on the number of workers earning less than the personal allowance who are also members of pension schemes that operate a net pay system. The Government does not hold employee level data on employees enrolled in net pay pension schemes, as such schemes are not obliged to report pension contributions to HM Revenue and Customs. The Government does not, therefore, hold information on the value of tax reliefs paid out to employees in net pay schemes.</p><p> </p><p>The latest official analysis of the eligibility of workers for automatic enrolment was published on 13 October 2016 in ‘Workplace Pensions: Update of analysis on Automatic Enrolment’. Information on age and earnings breakdowns for all workers can be found in table 3a on page 6.</p><p> </p><p>The Pensions Regulator provides guidance to employers on choosing a pension scheme for their staff in order to discharge their statutory obligations under automatic enrolment. This guidance covers the choice between net pay and relief at source schemes, and the implications of net pay schemes for employees who do not pay tax. Provided an employer has selected a qualifying pension scheme for automatic enrolment, they have complied with their automatic enrolment duties with respect to scheme choice.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe grouped question UIN HL320 HL321 HL323 question first answered 11/07/2017 15:55:57 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4533 label Biography information for Baroness Altmann

747348

	registered interest
	date	03/07/2017
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Workplace Pensions: Tax Allowances
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	Her Majesty's Government whether low paid workers who earn less than the personal tax threshold may claim against the Pensions Regulator for failing to ensure that employers use a suitable auto-enrolment scheme that does not force them to pay more than they should for their pensions.
	tabling member printed	Baroness Altmann
	uin	HL323
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 11/07/2017 answer text <p>The Government does not collect data on the number of workers earning less than the personal allowance who are also members of pension schemes that operate a net pay system. The Government does not hold employee level data on employees enrolled in net pay pension schemes, as such schemes are not obliged to report pension contributions to HM Revenue and Customs. The Government does not, therefore, hold information on the value of tax reliefs paid out to employees in net pay schemes.</p><p> </p><p>The latest official analysis of the eligibility of workers for automatic enrolment was published on 13 October 2016 in ‘Workplace Pensions: Update of analysis on Automatic Enrolment’. Information on age and earnings breakdowns for all workers can be found in table 3a on page 6.</p><p> </p><p>The Pensions Regulator provides guidance to employers on choosing a pension scheme for their staff in order to discharge their statutory obligations under automatic enrolment. This guidance covers the choice between net pay and relief at source schemes, and the implications of net pay schemes for employees who do not pay tax. Provided an employer has selected a qualifying pension scheme for automatic enrolment, they have complied with their automatic enrolment duties with respect to scheme choice.</p> answering member printed Baroness Buscombe grouped question UIN HL320 HL321 HL322 question first answered 11/07/2017 15:55:57 answering member 3349 label Biography information for Baroness Buscombe
	tabling member	4533 label Biography information for Baroness Altmann

425493

	registered interest
	date	02/11/2015
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Workplace Pensions: Small Businesses
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that small and medium-sized businesses are aware of their obligations relating to workplace pensions.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	14445
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2015 answer text <p>We are committed to supporting small and micro-businesses to adapt to their new automatic enrolment duties. Together with The Pensions Regulator, we have launched a new broadcast-led communications campaign to raise awareness of automatic enrolment amongst small employers.</p><p>The Pensions Regulator has also recently launched a new interactive and simplified online step by step guide to automatic enrolment, designed to meet the specific needs of employers who may not have pensions experience, including those with just one or two staff. Employers using the website can access tailored information relevant to their circumstances. The Pensions Regulator also provides online content for business advisers who play an important role in supporting smaller employers to meet their legal duties. To raise awareness and understanding, the Regulator has had over 500 meetings with intermediary firms and spoken at over 300 events around the UK during the last year</p><p>The Regulator sends a series of letters to every employer starting at least 12 months before their staging date, which is the date that the law applies to them. These letters set out what an employer needs to do and by when to comply with the law and signposts to the relevant information on the Regulator’s website.</p><p>To help employers adjust to the costs of automatic enrolment the minimum employer contribution level starts at 1% and increases gradually to 3% by October 2018. In addition, to ensure that all firms have access to quality, low-cost pension provision, The National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) was established by the Government and has a public service obligation to accept any employer that chooses NEST for automatic enrolment.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson grouped question UIN 14316 question first answered 05/11/2015 15:05:46 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

425498

	registered interest
	date	02/11/2015
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Workplace Pensions: Small Businesses
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what support his Department has given to micro-businesses in adapting to new automatic enrolment pension schemes.
	tabling member constituency	Sefton Central
	tabling member printed	Bill Esterson
	uin	14316
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2015 answer text <p>We are committed to supporting small and micro-businesses to adapt to their new automatic enrolment duties. Together with The Pensions Regulator, we have launched a new broadcast-led communications campaign to raise awareness of automatic enrolment amongst small employers.</p><p>The Pensions Regulator has also recently launched a new interactive and simplified online step by step guide to automatic enrolment, designed to meet the specific needs of employers who may not have pensions experience, including those with just one or two staff. Employers using the website can access tailored information relevant to their circumstances. The Pensions Regulator also provides online content for business advisers who play an important role in supporting smaller employers to meet their legal duties. To raise awareness and understanding, the Regulator has had over 500 meetings with intermediary firms and spoken at over 300 events around the UK during the last year</p><p>The Regulator sends a series of letters to every employer starting at least 12 months before their staging date, which is the date that the law applies to them. These letters set out what an employer needs to do and by when to comply with the law and signposts to the relevant information on the Regulator’s website.</p><p>To help employers adjust to the costs of automatic enrolment the minimum employer contribution level starts at 1% and increases gradually to 3% by October 2018. In addition, to ensure that all firms have access to quality, low-cost pension provision, The National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) was established by the Government and has a public service obligation to accept any employer that chooses NEST for automatic enrolment.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson grouped question UIN 14445 question first answered 05/11/2015 15:05:46 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4061 label Biography information for Bill Esterson

425499

	registered interest
	date	02/11/2015
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Workplace Pensions: Small Businesses
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of his proposals for automatic enrolment of employees in pension schemes on businesses with fewer than 10 employees.
	tabling member constituency	Sefton Central
	tabling member printed	Bill Esterson
	uin	14313
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 05/11/2015 answer text <p>In 2010 the independent Making Automatic Enrolment Work (MAEW) review considered the impact of automatic enrolment on small and micro businesses. DWP’s impact assessments and on-going evaluation of Automatic Enrolment continue to monitor the costs and benefits of automatic enrolment on small businesses, including those with fewer than 10 employees.</p><br /><p>DWP’s evaluation reports and impact assessments are all available online.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 05/11/2015 14:06:41 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4061 label Biography information for Bill Esterson

432864

	registered interest
	date	26/11/2015
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Workplace Pensions: Small Businesses
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress he has made on pensions auto-enrolment to small and micro businesses; and if he plans to complete that auto-enrolment for those businesses by 2018.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	17853
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/12/2015 answer text <p>Automatic enrolment has been a great success to date, with 5.57 million people automatically enrolled into a workplace pension by 67,892 employers.</p><p>From June 2015 onwards, small and micro employers with 49 or less workers began enrolling all eligible workers into a qualifying workplace pension scheme.</p><br /><p>We remain on track to complete the roll out of automatic enrolment to all employers from 2012 to 2018.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 01/12/2015 15:30:05 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

449074

	registered interest
	date	26/01/2016
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Workplace Pensions: Small Businesses
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to ensure that small and micro-employers are able to comply with automatic enrolment for workplace pensions.
	tabling member constituency	Hazel Grove
	tabling member printed	William Wragg
	uin	903363
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/02/2016 answer text <p>5.81 million people have already been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension by 78,789 employers</p><p> </p><p>We are focused on making compliance with automatic enrolment duties as straightforward as possible –especially for small and micro employers, to continue to build on this success.</p><p> </p><p>As part of this, the Pensions Regulator has launched a new, simplified and much shorter ‘Step by Step’ guide on their website. This interactive Step by Step guide will help employers easily find out what they will need to do to comply by way of an easier to navigate, personalised journey. The number of steps an employer now has to take has reduced from 11 to just 5. This is designed to meet the specific needs of smaller employers who may well not have pensions experience, including those with just one or two staff. In addition, The Regulator provides online content for business advisers who play an important role in supporting smaller employers to meet their legal duties.</p><p> </p><p>The Regulator has simplified and tailored all letters and guides to ensure that their guidance is easy for small employers to follow; and is working with the key providers in the automatic enrolment market to ensure that employers are offered a consistent automatic enrolment journey.</p><p> </p><p>The Regulator’s website also provides guidance on what to consider when choosing a scheme and includes the list of independently audited, high quality ‘master trusts’ pension schemes. This will make scheme choice (one of the biggest challenges for small employers) easier.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 01/02/2016 17:50:30 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	4429 label Biography information for Mr William Wragg

754257

	registered interest
	date	19/07/2017
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Workplace Pensions: Self-employed
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans he has to bring self-employed workers into auto enrollment.
	tabling member constituency	Stockton North
	tabling member printed	Alex Cunningham
	uin	6007
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/09/2017 answer text <p>The Department is undertaking a review of the policy and operation of automatic enrolment, supported by an external Advisory Group. I refer you to the scope of this review set out by my Hon Friend Richard Harrington MP on 12 Dec 2016. It will look at the diverse group of self-employed people and how they might be better enabled to save for their retirement. The review report will be laid before Parliament at the end of the year.</p> answering member constituency Hexham answering member printed Guy Opperman question first answered 06/09/2017 10:16:01 answering member 4142 label Biography information for Guy Opperman
	tabling member	4122 label Biography information for Alex Cunningham

416364

	registered interest
	date	04/09/2015
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Workplace Pensions: Private Sector
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effect of auto-enrolment on private sector pension saving.
	tabling member constituency	Crawley
	tabling member printed	Henry Smith
	uin	8900
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 14/09/2015 answer text <p /> <p>Over 5.43 million workers have now been automatically enrolled into a workplace pension by their employer, many for the first time. This has reversed the downwards trend seen in workplace pension participation rates since 2003.</p><p> </p><p>So far opt out has been around 10 per cent, which is significantly lower than the original DWP estimate of around 30 per cent. This has seen the programme opt out assumption being adjusted to 15 per cent overall for the lifetime of the programme.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Automatic Enrolment will give around 10 million people the opportunity to save into a workplace pension - we expect to see 8 to 9 million people newly saving or saving more, generating £11 billion a year more in workplace pension saving by 2020.</p> answering member constituency North Swindon answering member printed Justin Tomlinson question first answered 14/09/2015 11:35:08 answering member 4105 label Biography information for Justin Tomlinson
	tabling member	3960 label Biography information for Henry Smith

717841

	registered interest
	date	04/04/2017
	answering body	Department for Work and Pensions
	answering dept id	29
	answering dept short name	Work and Pensions
	answering dept sort name	Work and Pensions
	hansard heading	Workplace Pensions: Pension Funds
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to introduce legislation (1) prohibiting companies withdrawing moneys from their pension funds for any reason, or (2) requiring them to keep their funds topped up to the level recommended by actuaries.
	tabling member printed	Lord Blencathra
	uin	HL6650
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/04/2017 answer text <p><ins class="ministerial">Current legislation already requires schemes to have sufficient and appropriate assets to cover the cost of paying future pensions when they fall due, or to put in place a recovery plan to ensure that the scheme returns to full funding within a reasonable period. It also prohibits the transfer of funds from the scheme to the employer apart from some limited circumstances and where there is a surplus.</ins></p><p>The Government’s Security and Sustainability in Defined Benefit Pension Schemes Green Paper explores a number of aspects of defined benefit pensions, including scheme funding arrangements and invites views. This paper was laid before Parliament on 20 February 2017.</p><p>The closing date for comments is 14 May 2017; responses can be submitted to the following postal address:</p><p>DB Consultation Private Pensions</p><p>First Floor</p><p>Caxton House</p><p>6-12 Tothill Street</p><p>London</p><p>SW1A 9NA</p> answering member printed Lord Henley question first answered 20/04/2017 09:35:00 question first ministerially corrected 20/04/2017 13:45:24 answering member 2616 label Biography information for Lord Henley previous answer version 44619 answering member printed Lord Henley answering member 2616 label Biography information for Lord Henley
	tabling member	497 label Biography information for Lord Blencathra