Blair leads pensions fix

TONY Blair has intervened personally to offer hope to people who lost their company pensions when their firms went bust.

More than 60,000 workers at firms such as Dexion, Allied Steel & Wire and United Engineering Forgings have seen their pension savings wiped out.

Many were forced to join pension schemes as a condition of employment and some contributed for more than 30 years. So far the Government has ignored pleas for help.

But at Prime Minister's Question Time yesterday, Blair said the issue is one the Government is 'considering actively'.

People who had been forced to contribute to an occupational pension that yields absolutely nothing for them are 'a very particular and special case', he said.

'We are looking at what we can do and I hope very much in the context of the debate at the moment on the pension protection issues and legislation we will be able to come forward with a solution.'

The Daily Mail has spearheaded the campaign for justice, especially at ASW where the scheme has a deficit of more than £70m and some 950 workers have lost most of their pensions.

Pension expert Ros Altmann, a governor at the London School of Economics and adviser to the campaign, said: 'This is the first time the government has acknowledged these workers are a special case. Now at last this wrong may be righted.'

Blair's comments may be intended to head off a potentially large-scale backbench revolt. Some 294 MPs, including 206 from the Labour backbenches, have signed a motion calling for action to help workers who have lost out.

A new Pension Protection Fund, run through levies on companies, will be launched next year. But this will not be retrospective so offers no hope to those who have already lost pensions.