26 May 2006
The UK government has boosted financial help for employees who
have lost their pensions because their scheme has gone bust or
ceased to exist.
The improvement to the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS), is part
of wider proposals within the pensions White Paper, revealed on
Thursday.
Funding for the scheme is set to be increased from £400m
to £2.3bn. The scheme will be expanded so that a further
22,000 to 30,000 people will be able to benefit from it.
"We recognised the real hardship many people faced in retirement
through no fault of their own," said James Purnell, Minister for
Pensions Reform.
The cover under the scheme has been extended from 3 to 15 years,
on a sliding scale.
Among those hoping to benefit from the new proposal are workers
whose pensions were affected when Allied Steel and Wire collapsed.
The firm collapsed in July 2002, prompting most of the
Cardiff-based workers to lose their pensions.
