Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the effect of Section 75 debt notification letters issued from the Plumbing and Mechanical Services (UK) Industry Pension multi-employer pension scheme on (a) the financial viability of that scheme, (b) people in that scheme and (c) the value of the debt requests; and if she will make a statement.

The issue of Section 75 debt notices and estimates are a private matter between the scheme trustee and employers. It is the role of the scheme trustee to ensure that the pension scheme is run properly and that members’ benefits are secure.

DWP’s 2017 Green Paper “security-and-sustainability-in-defined-benefit-pension-schemes” assessed changing the way employer debts are calculated and the impact this would have on members’ benefit security and remaining employers. This assessment showed any changes would weaken members’ benefit security, whilst placing significant additional costs on employers who would remain in the scheme. It also showed that excluding orphan liabilities from employer debt calculations would not necessarily resolve the issues some employers face with complying with their employer debt obligations.