Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Fifty-Seventh Report - AEA Technology Pension Case
Public Accounts Committee
HC 1005
Published 14 June 2023
Recommendations
2
Rejected
Ensure independent review for AEAT pension scheme members' long-standing complaints.
Recommendation
AEAT pension scheme members have been passed from one part of government to another, with no department taking overall responsibility for their complaints. Scheme members have raised complaints with government since 2012 covering a range of issues that involve several …
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Government Response Summary
The government disagrees with the recommendation, stating that complaints have already been considered by ombudsmen whose remits are statutory policy matters. It adds that the 2013 Fair Deal policy prevents similar situations from arising again.
HM Treasury
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Conclusions (6)
1
Conclusion
Rejected
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP), the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) on the pensions transferred to AEA Technology (AEAT) when it was privatised.1
Government Response Summary
The government disagrees, stating that Pension Protection Fund indexation rules are set out in legislation and changing them would require a change in law, which is a policy matter.
8
Conclusion
Rejected
Since the scheme entered the PPF, members have lost money in real terms each year because the compensation they receive does not include rises for inflation. PPF compensation initially provides members 100% of their pension if they had already reached the scheme’s normal pension age, or 90% for those who …
Government Response Summary
The government rejects the recommendation, stating that changing the Pension Protection Fund indexation rules would require legislative change and is therefore a policy matter on which they cannot respond further.
9
Conclusion
Rejected
From 2012 onwards, scheme members raised a series of complaints with multiple government organisations and were dissatisfied with the responses they received. In July 2013, DWP produced a factsheet summarising the complaints government had received and a response to each on behalf of the government. In February 2014, it then …
Government Response Summary
The government rejects the conclusion, stating that complaints were already considered by relevant government bodies. They indicate that changing an ombudsman's remit is a policy matter, and existing 2013 Fair Deal policy prevents similar circumstances from reoccurring.
10
Conclusion
Rejected
When we asked it why no part of government had taken responsibility for the issue, DWP described pensions policy as a complex and wide-ranging area which touches on a number of departments. DWP is responsible for private sector pensions rather than public sector pensions, which it told us are the …
Government Response Summary
The government rejects the recommendation, stating that changing the ombudsman's remit is a policy matter and the 2013 Fair Deal policy prevents similar situations from reoccurring.
11
Conclusion
Rejected
Government has not commissioned any independent review into the complaints raised by AEAT members, and all of the relevant ombudsman services have said they cannot investigate the information government provided in 1996.19 PHSO told us it is unable to investigate personnel and superannuation matters, and that this would require a …
Government Response Summary
The government rejects the recommendation, stating that changing the ombudsman's remit is a policy matter and the 2013 Fair Deal policy ensures similar circumstances will not reoccur in the future.
12
Conclusion
Rejected
We asked how government can ensure that, if a similar thing were to happen again, pensioners making complaints would not be shunted from pillar to post in trying to make appeals and getting no advice or satisfaction. DWP told us that the government’s Fair Deal policy introduced in 2013 means …
Government Response Summary
The government rejects the recommendation, stating that changing the ombudsman's remit is a policy matter and the 2013 Fair Deal policy ensures similar circumstances will not reoccur in the future.