Last Update 31st August 2008
Saga Support and Petition
Saga are supporting our case and started an on-line petition which achieved 12,235 signatures and was handed in to Number 10 Downing Street as part of the Judicial Review demonstration on 8th February 2007
Contact us
The Pensions Action Group can be contacted here
Dates for your diary
With the Court of Appeal finding again in our favour the ball is now in the DWP's court and we are now awaiting the Government's response.
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Six years on, and still campaigning!
Bournemouth 2003,
Brighton 2004,
Brighton 2005,
London 2006,
Manchester 2006,
Bournemouth 2007
and STILL stripped of the pensions we were told were safe, guaranteed and protected by law
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ECJ Legal Action
All bills for this have now gone out either by e-mail (where available) or post. Could you please settle your bill as soon as possible. Please contact us if you have filled in a Bindmans form but heard nothing from the Pensions Action Group.
On-Line Petition
The Saga petition is now closed but we have another on-line petition which can be found here
From their home page go to Politics and Government and select "Restoration of Lost Pensions". It currently has over 1600 signatures.
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Update Record.
Updated 31st August 2008. Notes on current state of FAS payments and details of protest at the Labour Party Conference added to News page
Updated 13th February 2008. Details of the Court of Appeal verdict added to the News page. Press Releases added to the Documents page. Typical article added to the Media Comments page
Updated 1st January 2008. News on the DWP announcement on improvements to the FAS added to the News Page along with a note from Ros on the documents and two typical press comments to the media page.
Updated 12 December 2007. Press release on Cabinet split over pension compensation added to News page.
Updated 27th November 2007. Report on all night vigil 20th/21st November added to News Page
Updated 13th November 2007. Details of all night vigil 20th/21st November added to News page
Updated 2nd October 2007. Report on Bournemouth protest added to News page, and typical press reports added to Media Comments page
Updated 2nd September 2007. Notice of protest at Labour Party conference added above. Please come along and join in
Updated 29th July 2007. Notes on Appeal Court, Pensions Bill and Young Review added to News Page. Comments from Dr Ros Altmann added to Documents page. Typical media reports added to Media page.
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Click here to contact us. If you have lost your pension through a scheme wind-up please give us the company name, location, approximate number of people and the name of the local MP
We run an e-mail group which is used to circulate news and details of events
To join, send a blank email to:
pensionstheft-subscribe@yahoogroups.co.uk
and follow the instructions on the reply e-mail
You can leave the group at any time by following the instructions at the end of each group e-mail
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The Big Issue
 The Big Issue is published at irregular intervals as handouts to MPs and the public. Number 3 was published for the Laurel and Hardy march at the Labour Party Conference in Manchester. Free copies are now available.
To obtain a copy send a stamped B5 envelope to:
Pensions Action Group, 36 Seaside Avenue, Minster on Sea, Sheerness, Kent ME12 2NN
There are a limited number of Big Issues 1 & 2 also available which will be included until stocks run out
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Pensions Action Group Car Stickers
Vinyl car window stickers are available from:
Pensions Action Group, 36 Seaside Avenue, Minster on Sea, Sheerness, Kent ME12 2NN
The cost is 75p including postage. Cheques (made payable to Pensions Action Group) or postal orders please.
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Most people think that legislation put in place after the Maxwell scandal guaranteed the safety of their pensions.
WRONG
As employees of the steel company ASW found it is perfectly possible to be fully employed from 17 to 65, contributing all the time to a final salary company pension scheme, and still be left with little other than the basic state pension
Here’s how it can happen:
You transfer your pension fund each time you change jobs, or you stay with one employer for all your working life. Either way your entire pension fund is in one pot. This pot is only as secure as your final employer.
Your employer is in financial difficulties and looks for savings. Stopping employer’s contributions to the pension fund is an obvious easy saving. The fund becomes very under-funded. Eventually legislation will kick in, but only when the fund has sunk to a very low level. In any case the employer can simply close the fund at any time if it becomes too onerous
Your employer goes into receivership. The fund is closed immediately and an Independent Trustee is appointed to wind up the fund. The winding-up process will take three to five years dependant on the fund size and complexity, and the trustee’s fees will be at least 4% of the fund value. That is 4% more taken out of the already undervalued fund. The Independent Trustee has to distribute the funds in a defined order. Slightly simplified this order is:
First is his fees (money people always ensure they are top of the pile)
Second is maintaining the pensions for people who have retired
Finally any money left is used to provide pensions for the employees and deferred pensioners. Because the pension fund is closed, there are no further contributions being made from employers or employees. The fund cannot operate like this so the provision for the existing pensioners has to be made by means of annuities. Over the last ten years annuity rates have fallen to something like 5% for a joint life index linked pension. This means you need something like £300,000 to provide a married person’s pension of £15,000 per annum. It does not need many pensioners to totally empty the pension fund
Whatever is left is then used to buy annuities for the employees and deferred pensioners. The sum has been vastly reduced by the trustee’s fees and the annuities bought for the pensioners. This small sum will then bring in a return again based on the current, very low annuity rates.
Consider a typical example of two people with identical salary and service and just a month’s difference in age between them coming up to retirement. Joe is the eldest and retires in May with a pension of £15,000 per annum. Just after his retirement the company goes into receivership and the scheme is closed. Joe’s pension is safe.
Bill, however, was due to retire in June. The scheme is now being wound up. The winding up takes the money in the fund and first uses a big chunk (typically 4%) to pay the independent trustee’s costs. Next comes the purchase of annuities to maintain the existing pensions and their inflation proofing. With a dual life annuity rate at a record low of around 5% Joe alone will take £300,000 out of the fund. What is left is then split amongst the remaining employees and deferred pensioners to be used again as annuities. Typically the remaining people will get between 25% and 40% of the pension they expected. If the scheme is severely under-funded they may get zero.
Lucky Joe thus gets his £15,000 pension protected against inflation. Unlucky Bill, one month later, will probably get between £3,500 and £6,000. Even worse, because the winding up takes three to four years, Bill will suffer a further retention (typically 20%) until the wind-up is complete.
REMEMBER:
Pensions are a long-term investment made over several decades. It only needs one unfortunate occurrence during this time to decimate the pension you were expecting. The older you are the more vulnerable you become as you have less time to make up any loss.
We are very interested in hearing from people who have been caught in a similar position. If you are interested in joining a common action group, send an e-mail to: contact-us@pensionstheft.org
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