Workers who lost pensions call for surplus to be used

Pensioners from a plant in Cardiff who lost their pensions when it went bust more than 20 years ago have called for surplus money to be used to compensate them.

Workers from Allied Steel and Wire got 90% of their pensions back, but that has been eroded because payments are not linked to rising prices.

One of them, John Benson, said "retirement dreams" had been "destroyed" but that using a small portion of a £13bn surplus in the Pension Protection Fund would be enough to fully restore the pensions.

The UK government said it was considering the matter but warned "these are complex matters requiring a balanced approach".

Pension protections were strengthened after the Maxwell Scandal, when newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell stole more than £400m from the pension funds of his Mirror newspaper group to prop up his ailing businesses.

His pensioners lost half of what they had paid in.

As a result of his action, the Financial Assistance Scheme was set up as a safety net to protect pensioners when the companies they worked for went bust.

It was this scheme that helped bail out a group of Welsh workers from Allied Steel and Wire (ASW) in Cardiff who lost out when the company went under in 2002.

Although the ASW workers got 90% of their pensions, their value has fallen since that time as they are not linked to rising prices.

Mr Benson, from Dinas Powys, Vale of Glamorgan, has led a long campaign asking the government to make up the shortfall, which he said has had dire consequences.

"It's destroyed retirement dreams. Some colleagues have had to downsize," he said.

"One lady who was seriously ill herself couldn't afford a funeral after her husband died, and a couple of months later she died herself.

"It's soul destroying. It's destroyed me.

"There are some horror stories, too many to tell."

Now a cross-party group of Senedd members has written to the prime minister urging him to pay the pensions in full, among them the former Conservative leader in Cardiff Bay Andrew RT Davies.

"This is a massive injustice that's been inflicted on ASW pension holders and other pension holders across the UK," he said.

"Through no fault of their own, they've lost their entitlement to a full pension which they paid into, and we believe the system should be corrected and that's why we've signed this letter."

It has been revealed that the scheme which replaced the Financial Assistance Scheme, the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), has a surplus of £13bn.

Mr Benson said paying a tiny amount of that money to him and his fellow pensioners to make up the shortfall would not be a hardship, but would make all the difference to them.

"This money, this surplus in the PPF, should be paid to restore our pensions in full.

"They've got a £13bn surplus in the PPF – use it!

"Stop making excuses that it's public money – it's our money. This money is meant for us, not other government policies."

The matter was also raised with Pensions Minister and Swansea West MP Torsten Bell at a meeting of the Commons Work and Pensions Committee earlier this month.

Committee chair Labour MP Debbie Abrahams asked: "I cannot understand the reason for not making a decision to enable them to spend the last few years of their life in some comfort, can you give us any hope around this?"

Bell replied: "It does need to be looked at properly.

"It needs to be considered in the round of those wider impacts, as all public policy matters are, but I am absolutely aware of the issues.

"I am also aware of the average age of the people that are affected.

"The best thing I can do is to say that I am aware and I am looking at it, but the public finance implications are more complicated than you set out."

In response, concerning its £13bn surplus, the PPF said it deliberately had what it called a reserve to protect it from future claims or in case people live longer than expected.

The Department for Work and Pensions said it recognised members' incomes may have been eroded in recent years.

"However, these are complex matters requiring a balanced approach," it said.

"The government is continuing to consider what we have heard from the Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme members on this issue."

• More on this story on BBC Politics Wales at 10:00 BST on Sunday 22 June