Pension when workplace went bankrupt in the 80s

pc1344

At the time, my husband was told that his pension was lost because his firm went bankrupt in 1984. Does anyone know if this was definitely  the case in those days please? Many thanks

JoeCrystal

Told? Did he get any paperwork regarding this at the time? Is it a DC or DB pension scheme? What is the employer's name?

Dox

pc1344 said:

At the time, my husband was told that his pension was lost because his firm went bankrupt in 1984. Does anyone know if this was definitely  the case in those days please? Many thanks

If it was a defined benefit scheme (and in 1984 that was almost certain to be the case) then yes, I'm afraid so. Pensioners had priority in terms of any assets in the scheme, and at the time your husband was presumably not a pensioner (or he'd be about 100 now!), so it's likely that their benefits were paid to a greater or lesser extent at the expense of members who hadn't reach the scheme's retirement age.

pc1344

Thank you both for your help. My husband (who I hadn't met then) was sure that this was the case and he is quite savvy when it comes to money matters. Sadly he was twice made redundant because the car dealerships he worked for went bankrupt, it seems so unfair that I just wanted to check. The last firm he worked for, Arnold G Wilson of Leeds should have given him a large pension as he was manager of one of their car dealerships so I just thought it was worth checking.

Thrugelmir

Wasn't until some years later and "Robert Maxwell" that pensions became protected.