Ombudsman rules against attempt to 'claw back' DB benefits

WM Marshall accepted a severance payment of £320,000 into his salary-related pension from employer Grampian Country Foods Group when he left the company in 1998. However, Grampian hit financial difficulties in 2006 and three of its pension schemes were in deficit. The Grampian scheme, of which Marshall was a member, was put into the PPF and Marshall's benefits fell from £70,157 per year to £26,050 per year. Marshall attempted to claim that there had been an understanding his £320,000 severance payment had been ring-fenced in the scheme as a DC pot, rather than an addition to the fi...