Foreword
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I am laying before Parliament under section 10(4) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 this report, which contains the results of my Office’s investigation into a complaint that the Department of Social Security and, subsequently, the Department for Work and Pensions failed properly to oversee and administer the distribution of money collected from financial institutions for the benefit of certain Maxwell pensioners; that the Department later unreasonably refused to give financial assistance to some of those pensioners; and that they took too long to reach that decision.
The complaint, referred by Mr Mark Oaten MP, was from a member of the Maxwell Communications Pension Plan who complained that the Plan hadreceived too small a share of the £276 million that had been collected and that,by the time the Department decided that they would not assist the Plan further,the Plan's financial position had deteriorated.
A recent Early Day Motion on the subject attracted over 100 signatures and, inview of that wider interest, I have decided to issue this report.
Ann Abraham
Parliamentary Ombudsman
March 2005
