The Work and Pensions Committee (WPC) has written to Pension Minister, Laura Trott, to ask the government to reconsider the Public Account Committee's recent recommendations on the AEA Technology (AEAT) Pension Case.

MPs previously urged the government to show what more it will do to help people make informed financial decisions and have appropriate routes of appeal, after the PAC highlighted the case of the AEAT scheme as “another case of government not giving people enough time or support to make complex financial decisions”.

In the letter, WPC chair, Stephen Timms, showed particular support for the PAC recommendation that “the government should ensure that members’ complaints about the AEAT pension case can be independently reviewed, for example by a relevant ombudsman.”

However, the government's response said that it could not respond, under HM Treasury’s guidance, to the PAC recommendation as it constituted a policy recommendation.

Despite this, Timms noted that the government response agreed with the PAC that all aspects of people’s interactions with their pensions should have an adequate route of appeal, raising concerns that the issue could be falling between the gaps.

He stated: "It seems wrong that scheme members in this case should be denied an independent review because the issue falls into the gaps between the jurisdiction of different bodies.

“I understand that there is a relatively simple legislative fix that would allow the PHSO to open an investigation. In fact, such a change was proposed by Oliver Letwin as an amendment to the draft Public Service Ombudsman Bill, which unfortunately, did not receive parliamentary time.

“I would be grateful if the government could reconsider and you could work with colleagues in HM Treasury and other parts of government to find a solution for this case.”

Issues around the AEA scheme first arose after the commercial arm of UK AEA Technology was privatised in 1996, meaning that its employees could no longer pay into the public sector pension scheme.

According to the National Audit Office (NAO), nearly 90 per cent of members chose to transfer their accrued benefits to the new scheme following information provided by public bodies, with legislation at the time requiring transferred pension to have no less favourable benefits within the new scheme.

However, the AEA Technology faced financial difficulty and restructured in 2012, with the scheme subsequently entering the Pension Protection Fund, and members left with lower benefits than the previous scheme.

Since then, according to the NAO, scheme members have raised complaints and sought redress from several parts of government.

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