MP welcomes pension settlement

11:47am Monday 24th December 2007

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STOURBRIDGE MP Lynda Waltho has welcomed the settlement for 140,000 people who lost their savings when their employer-sponsored pension schemes collapsed.

Lynda said: "I have been lobbying Ministers on this issue since I became an MP and the announcement is good news for my constituents who have been campaigning on this issue for a long time.

"The announcement means the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) will be extended so all scheme members will be guaranteed 90 per cent of their accrued pension at the date their scheme began wind-up."

The FAS came into operation on September 1 2005 and offers financial help to people who lost out on their pensions because their occupational pension scheme was under-funded when it started to wind-up and their employer was unable to make up the shortfall because it was insolvent or no longer exists.

As well as increasing assistance for those affected to 90 per cent of their accrued pension, the settlement will extend cover to 11,000 people in schemes wound up by qualifying solvent employers.