Pension Protection Fund (Moratorium and Arrangements and Reconstructions for Companies in Financial Difficulty) (Amendment and Revocation) Regulations 2020

Karen Buck Excerpts

Tuesday 13th October 2020 General Committees

[Ms Karen Buck (Westminster North) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Robertson, and I apologise on behalf of my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Erdington (Jack Dromey), who is unable to be here today.

The Opposition supported the measures in the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act to help struggling businesses remain open and viable and to strengthen the role of the Pension Protection Fund in the process, protecting the pension schemes of companies in financial difficulty. Today, we are happy to support these further regulations to support the Pension Protection Fund, granting similar powers to safeguard the pension schemes of co-operatives, community benefit societies and credit unions. The Minister is right to note the important role of the Pension Protection Fund in the UK pensions landscape.

I would like to ask the Minister a couple of questions. As we know, the country faces a dire economic outlook, with severe shocks being inflicted on many employers and many pension schemes. Will the Minister say a little more about what assessment the Department has made of the resilience of the Pension Protection Fund? What measures will be undertaken to ensure that the fund is ready and capable when it comes to absorbing the potentially thousands more pension scheme members who will require security over the coming year? Although the regulations are welcome, they do not entirely restore the position that the Pension Protection Fund occupied in restructuring situations before the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act. Will the Minister keep that under review?

It is vital that the Government make changes to the law to protect and support companies and the jobs reliant on them during these times, but the Pension Protection Fund must also be protected to ensure its continued security for the thousands of scheme members who rely on it. Although we welcome the widening scope of the Pension Protection Fund to protect more scheme members, I urge the Minister to be constantly vigilant as to what safeguards are in place to protect the fund itself.

During this unprecedented time, we are all agreed that the hard-earned retirement income of workers must be protected. Every worker deserves nothing less than the simple assurance that their pensions must be protected for retirement, and we must all work to deliver this goal and ensure that the legislation we are considering today is well equipped to deliver it.