Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will take steps to amend the Pension Protection Fund rules to allow people with pre-April 1997 pensionable service to receive increases to their pension of up to 2.5 per cent.

The Pension Protection Fund is a well-established compensation scheme with cross party support. Without the Pension Protection Fund, most company insolvencies would mean that members of Defined Benefit pension schemes could be facing significant financial insecurity in retirement. The Pension Protection Fund was never intended to replicate scheme benefits in their entirety.

There are ongoing court cases relating to the Pension Protection Fund compensation and so it would be inappropriate to comment further until the final judgments have been handed down. Once the litigation is concluded we will review the position.