APW "disaster" as pensioners excluded from lifeboat

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 25th May 2006

This is a pensions disaster that the Government must address

Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne said that the Government's announcement of more money for the lifeboat to help failed pension schemes was welcome, but that ministers had once again overlooked the case of APW and similar schemes.

Ministers had made it clear that the Financial Assistance Scheme would continue to apply only to schemes where the sponsoring company had gone into liquidation, and not to schemes like APW that had been cut loose by their sponsor with minimal support.

"APW is an American company which has washed its hands of the APW pensioners in Britain, and ministers need to recognise that their case is every bit as deserving as those of pensioners whose company is insolvent. In some cases, Hampshire APW pensioners have lost up to 80 per cent of their pension savings and expected pension. This is a pensions disaster that the Government must in all fairness address, and I will keep fighting, along with other Hampshire MPs, to get the Treasury and the Department of Work and Pensions to recognise their obligations" said Chris Huhne.

Until now, the APW scheme has fallen between two stools: it was closed too early to be protected by the Pension Protection Fund, but it was not wound up due to the insolvency of the company so it could not be supported by the special lifeboat, the Financial Assistance Scheme.

John Hutton, the Work and Pensions Secretary, had nevertheless suggested that schemes like APW could form part of the review of the Financial Assistance Scheme when he was answering questions in the Commons following criticism from the parliamentary ombudsman.

The Hampshire MPs who are supporting the APW action group - including John Denham, Julian Lewis, Chris Huhne, Sandra Gidley and others - are trying to make common cause with MPs of similar schemes in the hope of pressuring the Treasury into action. There are about four similar schemes across the UK including Dalgety and Henlys.