Peers to vote on pensions 'lifeboat'
A key vote on whether the government should compensate thousands of people whose pension schemes collapsed will be held in the House of Lords tonight.More than 125,000 people lost millions of pounds worth of retirement savings when their companies went bust between 1997 and 2005.The government intends to compensate affected people with 80 per cent of their expected basic pensions under the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS).But campaigners want to receive comparable payouts of 90 per cent guaranteed under the more recent Pension Protection Fund (PPF).The plight of those people who lost their retirement savings has already been backed by the Financial Ombudsman, the high court and the European court of justice.Referring to Gordon Brown's impending elevation to No 10 and tonight's vote, shadow pensions secretary Philip Hammond said: "We are confident that the lords will back the life-boat fund package and put the pressure firmly back on the chancellor."This will be the first major test of Gordon Brown's premiership. Does the man who is raiding £5 billion a year from pension funds have the decency to back this proposal to help those whose pensions he has decimated?"Trust in the pensions system cannot be restored until a just and equitable solution is found for the 125,000 victims of pension scheme failure."Liberal Democrat pensions spokesman Lord Oakeshott added that the government's attitude towards the high court and ombudsman rulings had been "utterly contemptuous"."They just don't seem to accept that anyone apart from themselves has any right to rule," he told BBC Radio Five Live's Wake Up to Money programme."It's as if they were playing a game, the referee has shown them the red card, and they just refuse to walk off the pitch."
Share this..
Related stories
UK mortgage lenders set to experience more pressure
As the UK government bond market continues to rise, with bond yields having fallen to around 0.785%, there are growing hopes that UK mortgage lenders will start to reduce their rates. It seems that more and more investors have now come round to the idea that UK base rates will remain at 0.5% for some time to come and ultimately the cost of finance in the UK should fall accordingly. But will UK mor...
Read MoreOne down one to go for British Airways
British Airways has today announced a possible agreement with the GMB and Unite unions which could avert industrial action amongst ground staff at Heathrow Airport. The agreement, which will be voted upon today, could see a voluntary reduction of the 3000 ground staff numbers with a number in the region of 500 suggested by the unions. Those who leave voluntarily will receive enhanced severance pac...
Read MoreWhat affect will the credit crunch have on pension funds?
There has been an awful lot of debate about pensions over the last couple of weeks as the stock markets around the world continue to struggle. Talk of bailouts for the banks is all well and good but what about those on the verge of retiring, where do they stand?
There have been some real tear jerk stories over the last few weeks with many people coming up to retirement and seeing t...
UK banking sector set to shrink in the short term
Comments by David Mills, a member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee, seem to indicate that the Bank of England is readying itself for a significant reduction in the size of the UK banking sector. It goes without saying that the sector is under pressure in the short term although the main reason for the expected reduction in the future is purely than simply because of a change in c...
Read MoreIs Vince Cable undermining George Osborne?
It seems that the uneasy truce between Vince Cable and George Osborne could be showing signs of strain after Vince Cable suggested that UK bank executives in the future should be "struck off" if found guilty of malpractice, very much like doctors in the UK. This would appear to be a statement which was not authorised by George Osborne, who is effectively in charge of the Treasury, even though Vinc...
Read More