Fresh court proceedings challenge PPF payment calculation approach

New court proceedings have started against the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), challenging its intended approach for calculating increases for savers affected by a previous European court ruling.

In September 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that PPF members should receive no less than 50 per cent of their pension savings if their employer becomes insolvent,

The PPF is already required by UK law to pay at least 90 per cent of a scheme members benefits if they are transferred into the pensions lifeboat whilst still working.

However, there is currently a cap of £39,000 on the amount that can be paid out to members each year once they reach the age of 65, meaning that high-earners could be left with less than 10 per cent of their entitled benefits.

The government plans to increase this to £40,020 in April 2019.

The PPF outlined its planned approach in uplifting payments to those affected by the CJEU ruling in January 2019.

However, the pensions lifeboat has revealed that fresh court proceedings have been brought against the way it intends to calculate increases owed to its affected members.

Despite the fresh challenge, the PPF will continue with its plan to pay increases, but it will limit the size of arrears payments in an attempt to avoid the risk of having to recover overpayments if the court rules it must use a different approach in calculating the increases.

In an update, the PPF stated: “We’ve thought carefully about whether we should stop all work to implement the ruling in light of the new court proceedings. For the time being, we’ve concluded that it's right to continue with our plans to pay increases to affected members.

“We expect our proposed approach to lead to higher payments in the near term than some of the alternatives the court is being asked to consider. Interest will continue to accrue on the arrears.

“At this time we can’t say when the court case may start or end, although the court may be asked to deal with the case quickly. We will keep our approach to implementation under review in the light of how the proceedings develop.”

    Share Story:

Recent Stories


FREE E-NEWS SIGN UP

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive breaking news and other industry announcements by email.

  Please tick here to confirm you are happy to receive third party promotions from carefully selected partners.


NEW BUILD IN FOCUS - NEW EPISODE OF THE MORTGAGE INSIDER PODCAST, OUT NOW
Figures from the National House-Building Council saw Q1 2025 register a 36% increase in new homes built across the UK compared with the same period last year, representing a striking development for the first-time buyer market. But with the higher cost of building, ongoing planning challenges and new and changing regulations, how sustainable is this growth? And what does it mean for brokers?

The role of the bridging market and technology usage in the industry
Content editor, Dan McGrath, sat down with chief operating officer at Black & White Bridging, Damien Druce, and head of development finance at Empire Global Finance, Pete Williams, to explore the role of the bridging sector, the role of AI across the industry and how the property market has fared in the Labour Government’s first year in office.

Does the North-South divide still exist in the UK housing market?
What do the most expensive parts of the country reveal about shifting demand? And why is the Manchester housing market now outperforming many southern counterparts?



In this episode of the Barclays Mortgage Insider Podcast, host Phil Spencer is joined by Lucian Cook, Head of Research at Savills, and Ross Jones, founder of Home Financial and Evolve Commercial Finance, to explore how regional trends are redefining the UK housing, mortgage and buy-to-let markets.

The new episode of The Mortgage Insider podcast, out now
Regional housing markets now matter more than ever. While London and the Southeast still tend to dominate the headlines from a house price and affordability perspective, much of the growth in rental yields and buyer demand is coming from other parts of the UK.

In this episode of the Barclays Mortgage Insider Podcast, host Phil Spencer is joined by Lucian Cook, Head of Research at Savills, and Ross Jones, founder of Home Financial and Evolve Commercial Finance.