Welsh Secretary rejects latest plea from pension campaigners

Martin Shipton

Retired steelworkers who were deprived of their full pensions after their employer went bust are angry that recently appointed Welsh Secretary Stephen Kinnock has rejected their plea for a UK Government rethink.

When Cardiff firm Allied Steel and Wire (ASW) ceased trading in 2002, workers initially believed their full pension entitlements would be honoured.

But that turned out not to be the case, and nearly a quarter of a century later they are still campaigning for all their pensions to be fully indexed to inflation – a concession that successive governments have not been prepared to make.

In the latest blow to their cause, they have received a letter from Mr Kinnock which states: “I recognise the strength of feeling among former ASW workers and understand why many members continue to feel deeply aggrieved about the losses they experienced following the failure of their pension scheme.

“I am also conscious that this has been a long-running issue and that many former members have campaigned for many years to secure what they regard as a fair outcome.

“The Government has listened to concerns raised by ASW pensioners and other members of the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS), including concerns about the lack of increases on pension rights accrued before 6 April 1997. As a result, the Pension Schemes Act 2026 introduces inflation-linked increases on these elements of FAS payments where the original scheme rules provided for such increases.

“These changes will benefit former ASW workers and represent the most significant improvement to the scheme for many years. We expect the new arrangements to come into force in time for the first increases to be paid from January 2027. The increases will be linked to CPI, subject to an annual cap of 2.5%, and will apply to future payments.

“While the FAS was not designed to provide full restoration of all lost scheme benefits, these reforms provide meaningful additional support to affected members while balancing wider responsibilities to taxpayers and the public finances.

“I appreciate that many former ASW workers remain disappointed that the changes do not go further. However, the concerns of former ASW workers have been heard, and these reforms were introduced in recognition of the genuine impact this issue has had on pensioners and their families.”

John Benson, one of the leading ASW pension campaigners, has responded to Mr Kinnock, describing the content of his letter as “a load of horse dung”.

‘Fully protected’

In a letter to the Welsh Secretary, he states: “We were encouraged to save into a company pension scheme by ministers in successive UK Governments, were told these pensions were safe and fully protected by law no matter what difficulties our employer faced.

“An extra 2.5% pre-1997 indexation starting in January 2027 means on average that a former ASW steelworker will receive a massive increase of about £3 a week. Innocent victims played by the rules, and have had thousands, tens of thousands and in many cases hundreds of thousands of pounds cruelly stolen from them. Just 2.5% CPI starting January 2027 is a bloody insult.

“The shameless Pensions Minister, Swansea West MP Torsten Bell, used every dirty trick in the book in the House of Commons to deny us the pensions we fully paid for.

“We the steelworkers, like the mineworkers, worked hard to secure a decent retirement for ourselves and our families, and have been stitched up by a UK Labour government again. So Secretary of State, stop the horse dung and just pay up. Stop being a messenger for the Treasury and stop sticking two fingers up to Welsh families.

“If you care about Wales and the people of Wales, get me a meeting with the Prime Minister as soon as possible. We are not going away.”

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