Wednesday 19th December 2007
Nearly £3 billion of real-terms funding has been promised to the 140,000 people left facing financial turmoil by the collapse of workplace pension schemes.
Secretary of state for work and pensions Peter Hain made the announcement earlier this week, explaining that, in order to achieve "net present value" of £2.9 billion, the government is to inject £12.5 billion in cash into funding collapsed schemes.
He also took the opportunity to praise those who had saved through workplace pensions, despite potentially having lost money as a result.
"They played by the rules, only to see their pension savings disappear through no fault of their own," he explained.
"Some I have spoken to were within weeks of retirement, having paid their contributions for 30 years or more, when they were so cruelly deprived of their pension."
A number of extensions have also been made to the existing provisions put forward under the governments assistance for those hit by the collapse of their pensions.
These are to see the financial help given increase to 90 per cent of an individuals planned pension, while an estimated 11,000 more Britons have been promised monetary aid than was already the case.
However, the 90 per cent promise remains subject to a cap of £26,000 per person - although this figure is "protected" for the future, the government insists.
And schemes with a starting age earlier than the statutory retirement age are also to be honoured, subject to an initiation limit of an applicants 60th birthday.
The move follows claims from independent pensions adviser Dr Ros Altmann that the government must act quickly in order to ensure the victims of such collapses are still able to have an enjoyable Christmas.
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