Key Dates

PPF statement issued on 2 September 2019

Summary

The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has issued a statement on how it is paying increased benefits to implement the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Hampshire that, under the Insolvency Directive (2008/94/EC), individual members must receive at least 50% of the value of their entitlement to old age benefits under their scheme rules.

• The PPF has started to pay increases benefits to pensioners whose benefits have been reduced to less than 50% of the value of their accrued pension solely as a result of the PPF compensation cap.
• The PPF is not yet paying arrears on the increases, because the Court of Appeal is to consider how the Hampshire judgment should be applied and the PPF does not want to risk making overpayments which might later have to be recovered.
• The PPF is still working on its approach to assessing pensioners whose benefits are less than the 50% minimum because of a combination of the compensation cap and other factors, such as differences in annual increases payable under the scheme rules and the PPF compensation rules.  The PPF intends to confirm its approach for this group in due course.

Date Accessed: 03/12/2021