Mike Penning: "Not enough in budget to help Dexion Pensioners"

Mike Penning joined Dexion pensioners’ condemnation of the budget on Wednesday. Dexion pensioners – and thousands of others across the country in a similar situation – had hoped that the Chancellor would use unclaimed assets to compensate people who have lost their pensions.

Mike Penning said: “The changes announced by the Chancellor, whilst welcome, will still leave many facing a considerable reduction in their expected pension. The Chancellor mentioned pensioners receiving ‘80% of their core pension’. This, in fact, means many will receive only about 50-60% of what they actually expected."

The Chancellor had been forced to widen the provisions for compensation after losing a High Court case which ruled that the Government was wrong to reject the Parliamentary Ombudsman's investigation. That investigation had concluded that Government literature had misled workers into believing that if a pension scheme was funded to meet the Minimum Funding Requirement (MFR) then pensions would be secure.

Mike Penning said:

“It is quite simple, hardworking people such as the Dexion pensioners, who have paid into their company pensions schemes all their lives should be properly compensated.”

He went on to add:

“The reality is that for many the changes announced by the Chancellor will not give then anything even close to full compensation. I think the Chancellor could have been more imaginative and used, for example, unclaimed assets – many of which are from pension schemes in insurance companies. What better way to use this money than to compensate these deserving people?”

Photo: Mike Penning joins Dexion pensioners campaigning outside the Houses of Parliament on budget day 2007.