Asked by: Lord Myners (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have considered the risk to the solvency of the Pension Protection Fund of owners of companies with funding deficits selling the business for a nominal consideration or to an unsuitable purchaser.
Answered by Baroness Altmann
The independent Pensions Regulator, which oversees worked based pensions, has a statutory objective to reduce the risk of situations arising which may lead to compensation being payable from the Pension Protection Fund. It was given a significant range of anti-avoidance powers in the Pensions Act 2004, which can be deployed where it is appropriate and where the legal tests laid down in legislation are met.
Asked by: Lord Myners (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will review the financial strength of the Pension Protection Fund.
Answered by Baroness Altmann
The Pension Protection Fund is run by an independent Board and reviews its financial position regularly. It manages over £23 billion of assets and, in the 2014/15 Annual Report, the last published, declared a funding ratio of 115.1 per cent and a surplus of £3.6 billion.