Maxwell communications pensions plan
23 March 2005
Press release 03/05
Maxwell Communications Pension Plan members learned today that their complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, Ann Abraham, has not been upheld. The Ombudsman today reported to Parliament that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the former Department of Social Security (DSS) did not act unreasonably in the way they dealt with the Maxwell Communications Pensions Plan. The Plan was one of four Maxwell pension schemes which had received part of a £276 million out of court settlement (the major settlement) in 1995.
A member of the scheme complained that the Maxwell Pensions Unit, set up by the DSS, failed properly to oversee and administer the distribution of the major settlement with the result that the Plan received an unfairly small share of the available money. He also complained that the Department acted unreasonably in refusing to give further financial assistance to the Plan and took too long to make that decision.
The Ombudsman found that the Department did not take an unreasonably long time to deal with their request for financial assistance. There were matters of detail to be sorted out and the implications of any decision had to be taken fully into account. Such a significant and politically sensitive decision could not be taken quickly. Neither did the Ombudsman consider that the Department acted unreasonably in refusing financial assistance to the Plan. The Government had made clear at the outset that it was not obliged to use taxpayers’ money to make good losses resulting from the fraudulent misuse of pension funds.
The Ombudsman also found that the distribution of the £276 million was not an administrative function of the Department and therefore she could not consider the matter.
“I feel great sympathy for the predicament of the Scheme members”, said the Ombudsman “but my investigation has shown that their losses have not been caused by maladministration on the part of the Department”.
Notes to editors
The Parliamentary Ombudsman, Maxwell Communications Pension Plan complaint, HC 455.
Press copies of the reports are available from the Press Office: Tel: 0300 061 4996/3943, e-mail press@ombudsman.org.uk. It will also be available on the website www.ombudsman.org.uk from 1600 hours on 23 March 2005.
The Parliamentary Ombudsman considers complaints from members of the public, referred by MPs, who claim to have suffered injustice as a result of maladministration on the part of government departments and agencies and other public bodies.
