Mike Penning makes a major speech in the House of Commons calling on the Chancellor to use unclaimed assets to compensate Dexion pensioners.

During a major speech in the House of Commons, Mike Penning called on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to use unclaimed assets to help build up a fund to compensate the Dexion pensioners.

“Many of the unclaimed assets…are from pension schemes in insurance companies. What better use could there be for that money than to compensate those wonderful people?” he asked.

The row stems from the fact that many pension scheme members, including members of the Dexion scheme, had been misled by Government information leaflets into believing that their pensions were secure, even in the event of their pension scheme being wound up.

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 the leaflets falsely gave the impression that if a pension scheme was funded to meet the Minimum Funding Requirement (MFR) then pensions would be secure.

During his speech, Mike said:

“The 120,000-plus people whose pensions were affected are not just numbers … These are ordinary people who were going about their business; in [Dexion’s] case, they had worked for the company for a very long time. They had done the right thing. They had paid into a Government-recommended, perfectly safe pension scheme, so that they would rely not on state benefit, charity or a handout from a scheme, but on a pension scheme that they had purchased on behalf of their families and loved ones.”

He went on to add:

“I am not saying that the taxpayer should pay everything, and nor are the former Dexion workers campaign group, the ombudsman or the Select Committee. What we are saying is that we need to come up with a plan.”

After listening to Pension Reform Minister James Purnell’s response to the debate, Mike Penning said:

“It is clear that the Government has little intention of helping out. They seem fixated by the idea that it would cost £15billion of taxpayers money to compensate this group of pensioners. That is nonsense, and I and many others believe that there are a number of steps that could be taken to provide a fund from which fair compensation could be made.

“The Government’s Financial Assistance Scheme, is not up to the job and by the Government’s own reckoning is helping just 40,000 people out of 125,000 people affected by the pension scandal.

“Many hard-working, decent people are now struggling to survive or having to work in low-paid jobs at a time when they expected to be able to relax and enjoy a well earned retirement.”