FAS increase is more political 'spin'

At the moment the FAS rules currently restrict financial help to pension scheme members who were within 15 years of retirement at 14 May 2004 when their scheme collapsed. In addition it provides less than 80% of their lost pensions to those who were more than seven years from retirement at that date, and a ‘de minimis’ rule excludes those who would receive £10 a week or less from the FAS. But Dr Ros Altmann, an independent consultant and former government adviser on pensions, says the announcement to remove the ‘de minimis’ rule and increase funding from £2bn to £8bn, which the governme...