Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has confirmed plans to index for inflation on pensions accrued before 1997 in the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) and the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS).

Speaking during the Budget, Reeves stated: "Having heard representations from my honourable friends, the member for Banbury and the member for Edinburgh South West, I will index for inflation on pensions accrued before 1997 in the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) and the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS), so that people whose pension schemes became insolvent through no fault of their own no longer lose out as a result of inflation".

The government previously opposed amendments to the Pensions Schemes Bill, which were intended to address the lack of any pre-April 1997 indexation relating to the FAS and PPF, with Pensions Minister, Torsten Bell, stating that the clauses "would not work" as they would apply to subsets of the PPF population.

However, frustration around pre-97 indexation on PPF and FAS benefits has been growing over the past year, with campaigners stressing the urgency of the situation given the age of those involved, with many of those impacted passing away during the search for a solution.

Speaking to Pensions Age, however, a spokesperson for the Pensions Action Group, which has campaigned for change in this area, warned that the devil will be in the detail of the policy.

This was echoed by industry experts, as Broadstone head of policy, David Brooks, said that "we will await further details on the true extent of this policy change with questions around just how many schemes will be included".

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