15 June 2009
Nearly 200,000 company pension scheme members are waiting to see
whether their funds will need help from the Pension Protection Fund
(PPF).
The PPF was set up by the Government as a safety net for defined
benefit pension schemes whose sponsoring employer goes insolvent
and are subsequently struggling to meet member benefits. The PPF is
paid for via a levy on all defined benefit pension schemes.
Since it began in 2005, 101 schemes have transferred to the PPF.
However, a further 313 schemes with 192,679 members are in an
"assessment period" which means they are waiting to find out if the
PPF will accept the transfer.
There are growing fears that if the schemes being assessed are
accepted into the PPF it will raise the annual levy on
still-solvent schemes to an unsustainably high level.
