pensions

[georgeg]

will the government pay for unpaid pension payments for acompany in administration if the funds are not available from that company

[Hippy]

When this happened to me about 12 years ago no-one made good those unpaid contributions. Some years later I was invited by the Ministry to make up the missing payments myself or suffer a reduced pension in the future. The situation may have changed since then, but I can't see the government giving us something rather than its usual trick of making our money disappear!

[Quizmonster]

You have to ask why the Government - ie us, in effect, as far as the money it has at its disposal is concerned - should pay for the criminal activity of a company. Presumably, the company bosses - like Robert Maxwell a few years ago - should not have had access to the pension fund at all. If someone breaks into your home and steals your computer, video etc, the Government doesn't replace them for you, after all.

Obviously, I am sorry to hear that you and others have found yourselves in this dreadful position, but I truly cannot see what it has to do with the Government at all.

[LeMarchand]

Now that a couple of people have answered, I feel free to add my rant! I actually think that the government should enact legislation and checks to ensure that company pension funds are sacrosanct. They want us to have private pensions (thus relieving them of the burden of paying/administrating pensions), but don't want to make sure that the money we paid in isn't ripped off by unscrupulous companies. Another pet peeve of mine is that if a pension fund under-performs, you can bet that the people in charge of the investments don't take less of a cut (in fact, they probably award themselves a big fat bonus) - why isn't something done about this? Could it be that they are the people who help keep the politicians in power?

[rja211077]

i don't see why a company being in administration implies criminal activity, quizzy?

[Quizmonster]

Rja, I immediately envisaged a Maxwell-type situation...as my earlier response sort of suggested...when the questioner said funds were not available.

Of course, companies can go bust without their owners having done anything illegal. I understood, though, that - post-Maxwell, especially - steps had been taken to prevent baddies getting their hands on pension-money. After all, it isn't theirs. You appear to be suggesting that such preventive measures were not taken and, if that is so, then I apologise for having got the wrong end of the stick.