On 6 September 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that the current level of compensation payable by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) does not meet the requirements of EU law. This judgment has potentially significant consequences for the PPF (and for some pension schemes), although it is not yet clear exactly how it will be applied in the UK.
Background
The case concerns Mr Hampshire, a former long-serving employee of Turner & Newall Ltd (T&N), which became insolvent in 2006, and the benefits he received as a pensioner member of the T&N Retirement Benefits Scheme (1989). Mr Hampshire took early retirement in 1998, at the age of 51. As he had not reached his scheme’s normal pension age (NPA) when T&N became insolvent, the level of PPF compensation to which he would have been entitled was capped. Had T&N not become insolvent, Mr Hampshire would have been entitled to an annual scheme pension of £60,240 in 2006. As a result of the cap applied to his benefits, his 2006 pension entitlement was £19,819, a reduction of approximately 67%.
XPS Pensions Group PLC (LON:XPS) operates as an employee benefit consultancy firm. The Company offers pensions actuarial, administration, compliance, and advisory services. Following their merger of Xafinity and Punter Southall in January 2018, XPS Pensions Group became the largest purely pension consulting and administration firm in the UK.