Deferred Pension Scheme in deficit

trippy

Hubby's got a deferred pension with a pension scheme that's in deficit and quoting transfer values @ 60.8% of the cash equivalent value. To try and reduce their deficit/liability they're offering a top-up to 100% for a limited time.

He's currently paying into a stakeholder pension (with same employer as he left and came back again but couldn't rejoin the final salary scheme) which we're fairly happy with as the company is contributing into as well and it's performing well too.

I prefer the idea of keeping the other pension deferred on the basis that it's a bit easier to predict the pension at NRA. I find it impossible to plan ahead with the stakeholder as there are SO many variables that have been assumed for the statement.

To help us decide whether to transfer the dp into the stakeholder I want to find out what could happen to the pension scheme. The company is in little danger of closing but I was wondering if the scheme can be wound up and he's forced to transfer anyway. In which case we'd be better off taking the 100% while it's available.

We can also take the 39.2% top-up as a cash sum but this seems irresponsible. Am I right?