- Gerald Jones, MP for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, leads Parliament debate to call for justice and compensation for Hoover pensioners
- Former £123 million surplus pension scheme now £300 million in deficit and transferred to Pension Protection Fund due to Hoover financial problems
- Thousands of former Hoover employees forced to change plans for retirement after facing cap on pension funds
- MP calls for UK Government to pay Hoover pensioners back money it took from surplus under Thatcher in the 1980s
- Over 5,000 people formerly employed at Hoover’s Merthyr Tydfil site – 7,500 people on Hoover 1980s pension scheme in total
In a crucial debate in Parliament on 11 June 2019, Gerald Jones, MP for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney, led calls for justice for thousands of former Hoover employees suffering devastating cuts to their pensions.
In the 1980s, Hoover UK’s pension scheme fund had a surplus of as much as £123 million, but financial problems and a 40% tax on company pension surpluses, introduced by Margaret Thatcher’s government in 1986, have meant that the fund has since gone into £300 million in deficit, and has been transferred to the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) to safeguard employees’ pensions.
Under PPF regulations, employees of affected companies have their annual pension increases reduced, and people yet to reach retirement age face an immediate 10% reduction to their benefits, and in Parliament yesterday Gerald Jones called on the UK Government to repay the money it had taken from the company pension fund over the last 20 years to the thousands of retired employees being forced to reconsider their retirement plans.
Gerald Jones MP said: “Will the Government now do what is right by the many hundreds of people who have seen their pensions hit over and over, and repay them with the money it took from the fund under the Finance Act, so these hard-working people can have the retirement they deserve and which they worked for decades to build?
“Will the minister now commit to give justice to the many former Hoover employees in my constituency who have been robbed of the pensions they worked to build, and on which they now depend as they have left the workplace?”
To watch the debate in full, click here: https://bit.ly/2WCdPuA