Union calls on Government to boost pensions compensation fund

Treasury promises of £400m to compensate workers for lost pensions could leave them with as little as £160 a year, according to unuion claims.

The GMB union has called for a hefty injection of cash into the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS), the fund set up by government to compensate people whose pensions have been lost.

Describing the £400m set aside by the government as a ‘paltry’ sum, the union said it could leave some workers who lost their pensions with as little as £167 per year.

GMB general secretary Kevin Curran said: “With the annual cost of Christmas estimated to stand at £813, thanks to a miserly contribution from the Government, the families of some workers will be lucky to have more than a bag of giblets next Christmas.

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“The best thing these workers could receive this year is a re-evaluation of the necessary cost of the FAS and a significant injection of cash to compensate them for the loss of some or all of their pension provision,” he said.