News In Focus
22 February 2007
Four take on government and win
Four pensioners have taken the battle for pension compensation a significant step further forward following a High Court ruling in London yesterday.
Henry Bradley, Andrew Parr, Bob Duncan and Thomas Waugh were fighting on behalf of those who have lost pensions because their employer companies went bust between 1997 and 2005 . They claim that Government literature misled them because it suggested company pensions were completely safe.
In a report last year, the parliamentary ombudsman Ann Abraham ruled that the government was guilty of maladministration because of the misleading advice it gave about company pensions and that it should pay compensation.
The government rejected the findings but in yesterday's ruling Mr Justice Bean ruled that the ombudsman had been entitled to reach her conclusions.
In the House of Commons yesterday, Prime Minister Tony Blair accepted the Conservative leader David Cameron's invitation to sit down with other political parties and settle on a deal, but he warned that any package must be affordable.
The ruling is thought to affect up to 75,000 people, although trade unions estimate that the true figure could be closer to 125,000. The government has said that the cost of compensating every worker affected would be excessive at up to £15 billion, though the campaigners say the figure would be less than £4 billion.
The European Court of Justice recently held that there was inadequate protection for workers during the period covered. The English courts have still to determine the effect of this ruling.
The Pensions Secretary John Hutton is expected to speak about the ruling in the House of Commons today.