Legal twist makes pension providers check old records for missing papers
Court decision about pension scheme changes from 90s affects millions of final-salary pension holders. Missing paperwork from past changes might lead to extra money for many ex-workers
A big-scale pension review is happening because of a court ruling from last summer that questions changes made to pension schemes since mid-90s
Back in those days many companies had whats called “contracted-out“ pension plans; these plans let workers pay less national insurance but got smaller state pensions in return. Between 1997-2016 lots of companies made their pension schemes less generous to save money‚ but now theres a catch
The whole thing started when Virgin Media lost its case about pension changes: the court said old changes to pensions arenʼt valid without special paperwork (called Section 37 certificates) – this means many past decisions might not count
Richard Gibson from Barnett-Waddingham says this affects more than 9-million workers; some might get extra cash but most wonʼt see much difference. He thinks the government needs to step-in and fix this legal mess-up
The Virgin Media judgement has left pensions law in a muddle; some members might get a significant windfall but most wont be affected at all
Hereʼs what pension schemes are doing now:
* 73% say theyʼre worried about the ruling
* 25% found possible issues in their schemes
* 84% got help from lawyers
Joe Dabrowski – a pension expert says dont worry about doing anything right now: schemes will contact people if somethings wrong. The whole thing could cost schemes about £22‚000-23‚000 per affected person (thats what Virgin Media case showed)
