The European Court of Justice has ruled the protection offered by the government to pension members when companies collapse is "incompatible" with EU law, and has sent the case back to the High Court for review.
In a case brought against the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions by former workers of Allied Steel & Wire (AS&W) and trade unions Amicus and Community for breaching Article 8 of the EU Insolvency Directive, the ECJ has made its ruling more than six months after an earlier opinion favoured the UK government. In the opinion published on 13 July, Advocate General Kokott stated Article 8 of the Insolvency Directive does not require the government of member states to “directly incur the costs in respect of shortfalls in benefits that have not been adequately secured”. The 11-page judge...
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