As the House of Lords is due to vote on amendments to the Pensions Bills tomorrow, we will witness, yet again, the spectacle of pensioners stripping off to their underpants on Parliament Green, in a last ditch bid to bring their plight to politicians’ attention.
The amendments, which have cross Party support, will ensure that the hopelessly flawed Financial Assistance Scheme pays out benefits on a par with those paid by the Pension Protection Fund.
Crucially, the amendments will also ensure that the payments start as soon as the victims reach scheme pension age, rather than having to wait until their schemes are wound up. In addition, a Lifeboat Fund would be set up to help mitigate the costs to the taxpayer, by using scheme assets and unclaimed financial sector assets that the Government can use for this purpose (if it has the will).
The amendments will then go back to the House of Commons for the Third Reading of the Pensions Bill, which could provide the first big policy test for our new Prime Minister.
Let’s hope that this spells the end of the long and sorry tale of the pension victims, who have fought so long and so hard for justice for their cause and whose valliant leader, Ros Altmann, has done so much to bring their plight to the public’s attention.
We have fought for long enough and been fobbed off too many times, the Government and the House of Lords have the opportunity to resolve this once and for all and enable these long suffering people who did everything right to get on with their lives without further stress or worryreport this comment
It is not only these deprived workers who are suffering, it is the very Democracy of this country which is also at stake. How can the government keep on ignoring it’s own Ombudsman, a Select Committee, the European Court and the High Court? The government must put a proper end to this scandal, compensate ALL those affected, and move on to have any chance of restoring any voters’ confidence in pensions or politicians.report this comment
I am one of the many people robbed of our pensions, and I am not at all hopeful of getting compensation off this dispicable government or any subsequent government for that matter, They are all lying cheats with zero integrity.report this comment
Pam, you are right, this will test the new PM’s backbone.report this comment
Maybe,just maybe, the end is in sight.The House of Lords has the opportunity to pressurize the Members of the House of Commons to bring this sorry saga to an end.Give these people what they have paid for through contribution and service. Its the very least they ask for and deserve.report this comment
My husband is one of the 125000 people who has lost his pension due to his company going into administration and winding up its pension fund. We turned to our MP for help only to find that he has no interest in our plight and he is nothing more than a career politician who is in politics to earn a fortune compared to the normal working man and who will have a gold plated pension at the end of his political life. We have done everything that this and previous governments asked us to do. We worked hard, paid into a company pension and tried to become self sufficient. Now most of it has gone. The government makes spurious statements by saying we will get 80% of his pension in reality we will probably not get half of that. It is time ALL GOVERNMENTS AND ALL MP’S SEARCHED THEIR CONSCIENCES AND PAID THESE PEOPLE THEIR TRUE PENSIONS - that is what they paid for and that is what they should receive.report this comment
How ironical it would be if the Lords send the Pensions Bill back and the villian of the peace has to deal with it himself as opposed to his previous tactic of hiding under his desk. What will his tactics be now that he is in the driving seat ? If I was a betting man I think he will behave like any RAT would when cornered. How about settling up with us and laying the blame at Hutton’s door for not getting the FAS to perform. The hate each other anyway so this way he could avoid more bad publicity and get rid of Hutton in one swoop.report this comment
Thank goodness for the unelected Lords! Where would our democracy be without them - wise heads to keep the elected politicians on the straight and narrow.report this comment
The Lords have a chance to send the pensions bill back to the House of Commons with the proper amendments that would bring some justice to the long suffering pensions victims. As Pam Atherton says Gordon Brown will then face his first big policy test and we shall see whether he means to keep to his word and listen to the people and provide social justice to the people rather than trying to spin his way out of the issue as the Labour Government and DWP have tried to do up until nowreport this comment
I hope that the second chamber sends a clear message to Gordon Brown, that it will not stand by and see people who believed Govt leaflets that said “leaving your money in a company pension scheme was a safe thing to do following the introduction of protective legislation” are to be left with a poorer protection than the limited support given by the Govt promoted PPF scheme.
The approach to the Venture Capitalist industry for supportive funding should also be pushed hard as they took legal advantage of shoddily laid out pension legislationreport this comment
We did everything by the book
I worked for 39 years to find out that my pension was gone when the company I worked for all my life collapsed. All we all want, is what is rightfully ours no more no less.
We are still hoping that the government will do the right thing and compensate us all as the parlimentary ombusman recommended.report this comment
Why should these pensioners be satisfied with settling for benefits less than they were promised?
The FAS and PPS schemes are all very well, and the people currently desperate for income deserve a “lifeboat”, but if the Government change the law so as to renege on their guarantees, surely justice decrees that these people should be compensated to their full entitlements.report this comment
I paid into my scheme for 35years and am not even covered by the FAS as my company is solvent. The law did NOT protect our pensions. The Parliament Ombusman found the Government guilty of maladministration. We should NOT have to wait any longer for full compensation and justice.report this comment
People from all over the UK have suffered tremendously from the loss of their expected pensions.
From the north of Scotland, to the Southeast corner of England, Wales to Northern Ireland, over 125,000 people and not forgetting their partners, have a bleak future ahead of them.
This pension’s fiasco would have the forefathers of the labour movement turning in their graves, if they knew what our successive governments have put these people through. While those that we are paying the pensions for through our taxes, continue to deny us the pensions we paid for.
Lets hope that the Lords that sit in our second chamber, have moral conciseness to send the pensions bill back to the commons, and demand that these affected people get the justice they deserve.report this comment
I may be cynical but if the government can ignore the Parliamentary Ombudsman, a select committee, the European Court of Justice and the High Court why should we think the House of Lords will make any difference? When did we lose democracy?report this comment
I joined Lufthansa, the German Airline in 1969, worked with their passengers for 34 years, but as the the uk operation was sold off to a French company, that promptly wound up our pension scheme, we lost most of it overnight.
This despite all the written assurances that, ‘nothing will change, all your contract rights and pensions are safe’. I was gullible then, I am now cynical and much poorer!
You may wonder what happened to those that gave these worthless assurances, happily retired, having ditched us!
But with their full pensions.
Sad, but trying not to be bitter,(wasted emotion).
Mikereport this comment
I am one of the people affected by the Governments refusal to do the right thing after being found guilty of maladministration. Many of us have worked all our lives and doing so have made a major contribution to the Country and its wealth. We have never wanted sympathy all we have ever asked for is justice.report this comment
Let’s hope the 125000 finally get at least to PPF benefit levels. But why should they, and those already in the PPF, be denied the up to 5%pa indexation which Company schemes were required to provide from 1997 onwards. The PPF gives only up to 2.5% and then only on post 1997 contributions - no good if you’re over 40. Annual RPI Inflation’s already 5% (& rising) which halves the value of money in just 14 year’s and cuts it to 30% in 25.report this comment
My husband and I both worked for the same company, together paying in excess of 50 years into the company pension scheme. For us it was a ‘DOUBLE WHAMMY’. We trust justice will prevail and the Government will do the right thing and end the misery of 125,000 honest and hardworking people. We are not asking for a hand out, only what is rightfully ours.report this comment
If the Lords vote for the amendments and these are then approved by the Commons a little of my faith will have been restored in British democracy. If, however, Mr. Brown continues to deny the pensioners what should rightfully be theirs and flies in the face of all the Committees that have supported the Pensioners’ case then democracy will have died.report this comment