Workers who lost their pensions when their employers went out of business between January 1997 and April 2005 will receive 90% of their value, the government has announced.
Work and pensions secretary Peter Hain today unveiled a £2.9bn rescue scheme for 140,000 people eligible for the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS).
This will bring those workers in line with people whose firms have gone bust since April 2005, all of whom are covered by the Pension Protection Fund.
It comes after calls from the Parliamentary Ombudsman, the Public Administration Committee and a High Court Judicial Review for the government to offer greater compensation through the FAS.
Hain said: “I’m delighted that we are able to announce a settlement that will provide justice for the 140,000 people affected when their schemes were wound up, including members of schemes where the company is still solvent.
“This builds on the substantial steps we’ve already taken to put right the unfairness they experienced.”
