Q & A – how Government caused the injustices of wind-up

by Dr. Ros Altmann

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Did Government encourage people to join these schemes and stay in them?       
Yes

Did Government tell members their pensions were safe and protected by law?   
Yes

Did Government introduce new risks to member security in 1997?                                  
Yes

Did Government determine the rules of wind-up which have taken members’ contributions away and given the money to others?                                                      
Yes

Did Government know members and trustees were unaware of wind-up risks?
Yes

Did Government say it would issue ‘impartial information’ explaining the benefits
and risks of pensions?                                                                                                           
Yes

Did Government explain the risks (especially of wind-up) to the public?             
No

Could trustees alter the rules of wind-up to divide assets more fairly?                  
No

Did Government say the MFR would ensure full pensions on wind-up?              
Yes

Could trustees get any more money into their scheme than MFR?                                  
No

Did Government keep the MFR up to its original intention?                                             
No

Did Government consider risks to workers’ pensions when changing MFR?       
No

Did Government tell people they should take individual advice?                           
No

Did Government give older workers a chance to diversify their pension risks?    
No

Did any other countries leave such pension schemes unprotected?                                   
No

Did Government get people to put their state pension rights into these schemes?           
No

Did Government call pensions from these rights ‘Guaranteed Minimum Pension’?        
Yes

Were these pension losses caused because the employer went bust?                     
No

Why have people lost their pensions?            
Because of inadequate official funding standards and unfair wind-up rules

Why did people believe their pensions were absolutely safe and protected by law?
Because the Government told them so

Why were people relying totally on their company pension scheme?           
Because Government would not let them have another pension, but assured them it was safe, so they put all their retirement savings into it

Why has the Government refused to admit its responsibility for what happened?          
Don’t know