Pension campaigners had reason to celebrate at the end of this year as the Government gave a £12.5bn pledge to 140,000 people who lost their savings in occupational pension schemes.
The long-awaited move followed outcry at the £25bn the Bank of England threw at Northern Rock to secure customer deposits while it left pension savers in the cold. Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Peter Hain gave a welcome Christmas present when he announced Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) help for those affected for 90% of their accrued pension and extended the settlement to cover 11,000 people in schemes wound up by qualifying solvent employers. However, the Government has seemed to give with one hand and take with the other this year on pensions as the pre-budget report (P...
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