The recent collapses of Carillion, BHS and other defined benefit pension scheme employers have exposed the fundamental flaw in the Pension Protection Fund’s compensation scheme: the way it was designed means it is failing members of smaller schemes.  

In 2004 the newly appointed chief executive of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), David Norbert, attended a CBI Pension Panel meeting to present the Department for Work and Pensions’ proposal for a “full ABTA style 100% protection scheme”, covering members of all defined benefit schemes. I was present as the lone SME representative on the panel and also at the key pre-meeting before Norbert arrived. 

“The UK’s largest businesses didn’t see why they should ‘subsidise’ a scheme that would only benefit smaller competitors”

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