Quick fix for Farepak?
Gordon Brown recently appeared on television commenting on those who lost their Christmas savings when the Farepak scheme collapsed. He said it was outrageous that these people have lost all the money they paid in.
Gordon Brown recently appeared on television commenting on those who lost their Christmas savings when the Farepak scheme collapsed. He said it was outrageous that these people have lost all the money they paid in.
Good old Gordon, how nice of him to come to the rescue of people who faced having their Christmas ruined.
Strange how his concern doesn't seem to stretch to the victims of pension scheme wind-ups who face having every single future Christmas ruined. There will be no lavish presents for their grandchildren this year. How they would love to hear the Chancellor expressing his outrage about their own ordeal.
There are, of course, differences between the two cases. One group has lost ten months' savings, the other a lifetime's. One group saved with an unprotected club, the others were told by the government that their savings were safe, many being compelled to save by their conditions of employment.
The Chancellor's intervention and comments on the Farepak issue underlines his confused approach to savings. It smacks of opportunism to use television to back one high-profile group of short-term savers while ignoring the desperate plight of those who have lost their pensions.
It is now proposed to set up a fund to help the Farepak losers. We have a form of hysteria in the House of Commons with MPs digging deep and offering a day's pay from their own wage packets and major companies being cajoled into adding millions of pounds, (they would be better served putting the cash back into their own pension schemes which are mostly in deficit).
The people who lost their pensions are not asking for donations or handouts, nor are they asking for tax payers' help. If Gordon Brown simply returns the £45 billion tax he has taken over the last eight years from company schemes, this would help restore funds, and pensions made obtainable.
Both the Ombudsman and the Public Administration Committee have deemed the government guilty of maladministration, yet they still refuse to administer what is a morally correct solution.
Which is the most deserving cause, to support Farepak or fair play?
Jimmy Dutton, UPF Thomson Chassis Pension Steering Group (in wind-up), Camberley Crescent, Wolverhampton.
