Campaigning ...it’s the heart of what we do
SOMETIMES, especially when Christmas and New Year approach, it is good to be reminded of the great campaigning work our money section does to safeguard the finances of readers. Not just over the past year but in years gone by. Campaigning that often has long-lasting results – for the overwhelming good.
Last weekend was a case in point. On Saturday night, I was honoured to be invited to attend a reunion organised by The Pension Action Group at Leverstock Green Cricket Club in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. It was held to mark the tenth anniversary of the formation of the Financial Assistance Scheme – the precursor to the Pension Protection Fund which to this day ensures workers do not lose their company pensions when their employer goes bust, leaving in place a pension fund unable to meet all its obligations. There is no doubt that without the scheme being set up, thousands of hard-working staff – including those at the cricket club – would now have retired on pensions a fraction of what they were entitled to. They would have faced excruciating financial hardship in retirement.
But the scheme did not come about because of insightful government (yes, I know, an oxymoron). Far from it. Its creation was all down to some magnificent – and sustained – campaigning. It was in the early 2000s that the shortcomings in protection for many members of works pensions began to bubble to the surface. A result of a difficult economic backdrop triggering widespread corporate failure, together with some disastrous changes to pensions initiated by government.
Awful for workers as they were unceremoniously made redundant. Doubly awful when they discovered the pensions they were depending on to see them through retirement were no longer going to materialise. A result of the company pension fund they belonged to not having enough assets to pay out all its promised pensions – pensions already in payment being protected following the Robert Maxwell pension scandal of the early 1990s.
This gaping hole in pension protection brought about the formation of the Pension Action Group, comprising workers who stood to lose their company pensions. They stripped at party conferences, they held all-night vigils in Whitehall and refused to shut up until their voice was heard.
It also ignited a longstanding campaign by this money section to get justice for those affected. For most of the early 2000s, it was rare for us not to run a personal finance section without covering the subject.
There were others who brought pressure to bear on the Labour government of the time. A smattering of supporters in the press (economist Liam Halligan foremost among them), pension guru Ros Altmann (who played a vital role) and a number of supportive MPs (especially Mike Penning). The long and short is that pension justice finally prevailed with the birth of the Financial Assistance Scheme.
If I were deciding who to hand out gongs to this New Year, there are numerous members of the Pension Action Group who would get due recognition. The likes of Peter and Jacquie Humphrey (ex Dexion), Andrew Parr and John Benson (both ASW).
Without their sweat and toil, we would have no Pension Protection Fund.
MAYBE I am in Christmas mode already (bonhomie and all that), but I have to congratulate insurer Aviva on its decision to publish claims data for all its main individual insurance offerings. It is the first time an insurer has been so brave.
Of course, the data shows Aviva in good light – why publish if not. But in deciding to reveal all, it has taken a giant step forward in convincing a sceptical public and press that it does genuinely try to meet all legitimate claims.
In 2016, the behemoth paid £2.7 billion in claims to some 750,000 customers. This equates to an average acceptance rate of 96 per cent – with the balancing 4 per cent comprising fraudulent claims, customer misunderstandings over cover bought and failure to disclose key information when buying a policy.
Aviva says data for this year will be published next summer.
Bravo. Other insurers should follow Aviva’s lead and bare all. Just like members of the Pension Action Group did when campaigning for justice. More at aviva.co.uk/settled-claims.