Gordon Brown has announced the government is to extend the budget of the Financial Assistance Scheme in an attempt to help all of the 125,000 workers who lost their pensions when their occupational schemes collapsed.
In his Budget speech, Brown stated the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions will later today announce the total budget for the FAS will increase from £2bn to £8bn, which he says will ensure each one of the 125,000 affected workers will receive 80% of the core pension rights accrued in their scheme, while the maximum pension will be increased to £26,000. The chancellor also confirmed the government will investigate the assets within these wound-up pension schemes to see how they can help those workers affected by the collapse. In addition, the chancellor announced measures to increas...
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