High Court ruling means government must reconsider compensating 85,000 people who lost their pensions

Pressure is mounting on the government to compensate victims of collapsed pension schemes after a High Court ruling today.

Mr Justice Bean found that pensions minister John Hutton had no right to reject a Parliamentary Ombudsman report that said the government was guilty of maladministration.

The ruling means the government will have to reconsider whether to compensate 85,000 people who lost their pensions between 1997 and 2005.

Conservative leader David Cameron said the government should work out a compensation package for the affected people.

The court case was brought by four people who had lost their pensions – Bob Duncan from Jarrow, Andrew Parr from Kent, Henry Bradley from Belfast, and Tom Waugh from Staffordshire.

"It's a big step forward. But we will have to wait and see what the government reaction is,” Bradley told the BBC.

Workers whose pension schemes closed since April 2005 are covered by the Pension Protection Fund.