Yes, it just gives a grace period of three years for its coming into force. This will allow companies that might be in a difficult financial position to ready themselves, to bolster their balance sheets and to properly fund their pension fund plans in order to stay solvent.
My worry is that if we go ahead with the bill without any coming into force delay, you will have some companies that are on the verge of bankruptcy that will no longer be able to borrow money, because lenders of lower-grade debt will say that the risk is too high, given that the pension obligations would come before the loans. If that happens, what might occur is that the company would just go bankrupt now. Ironically, the pensioners would be in a worse position than at present.
If a company has an underfunded pension and it goes bankrupt because it can't secure lower-grade debt to stay a going concern, then not only would the workers all lose their jobs but there would be no time for the company to recover its financial position and bolster the pension. You could lose jobs and pensions if the change in this law is too abrupt.
Some of the witnesses agreed this was the best solution, including witnesses who supported the overall bill. This is just to have it coming into force in about three years, so that businesses can focus aggressively on bolstering their pension plans, perhaps buying an insurance product, a large-scale strategic insurance product that will back up the pension, thus reassuring lending markets that their loans are in safe hands.
I think this is a good amendment. It would make the bill more successful. It makes the bill stronger, not weaker, and it's good for pensioners. I encourage everyone to support it.