On 21 February, 2007, Mr Justice Bean delivered his judgment in a highly unusual judicial review relating to the Government’s treatment of members of occupational pension schemes. Four aggrieved scheme-members acted as representative claimants for up to 125,000 individuals who had lost all or part of their pensions when employer schemes had wound up.
The schemes had promised defined benefits, usually based on an employee’s final salary, but the delivery of those promises relied on the schemes’ funding level. The minimum funding laws that applied between 1997 and 2003 did not ensure that schemes had adequate resources – many schemes wound up with members receiving reduced pensions. In some cases, 90% of the pension was lost and there are many reported cases of individual hardship.
