Dexion Pensions: Penning calls on Government to recognise that it is fighting a losing battle
25th January 2007
Mike Penning comments on today's European Court of Justice Judgement on Pensions.
Mike Penning, MP for Hemel Hempstead and long-time Dexion pensions campaigner, commented on today’s judgement from the European Court of Justice.
The case was brought against the UK Government by 836 former employees of the company ASW Limited which went into Liquidation in April 2003.
Under current UK legislation the claimants will not receive all of their benefits.
The ECJ decreed that the level of pension protection provided by the UK Government was inadequate under the directive on protection of workers in the event of the employer’s insolvency.
“This is good news for the Dexion pensioners in so much as the European Court of Justice has ruled that under EU law, the UK Government should have taken measures to protect the interests of employees and former employees in the event of the employer’s insolvency in respect of pensions“, he said.
“I call on the Government not to force the Dexion pensioners to take their case to court as well, as I think it seems even more likely now that they would win their case.”
“The Government could save us all a lot of trouble and heartache if it just accepted the report from the Parliamentary Ombudsman.”
The Dexion pensioners’ case rests on misleading information given to them about the security of their pension scheme.
An investigation by the Parliamentary Ombudsman, Ann Abrahams, criticised the Government for giving inaccurate, incomplete, unclear and inconsistent advice in relation to the security of people’s pension schemes. The key point is that Government leaflets falsely gave the impression that if a pension scheme was funded to meet the Minimum Funding Requirement (MFR) then pensions would still be secure.
