Bethan Jenkins AM has written to the new Pensions Minister Steve Webb to urge him to back a Parliamentary inquiry into the collapse of Visteon UK and the role Ford played in its demise.
Some 700 former workers from the Swansea area are fighting to have their pensions restored after the receivers for Visteon UK applied to enter the Pension Protection Fund. It means that some of the pensioners, who number 3,500 across the UK, could lose as much as half their entitlements.
Bethan, who has helped to fight the case since Visteon UK went into liquidation on March 31 last year, said: “The pensioners’ union Unite believes it has a strong case against Ford, which it accuses of mis-selling pensions to its members. But while we are waiting for Unite to make a decision on going ahead with legal action, we cannot afford to stand still on this.
“I have told the minister – along with Ieuan Wyn Jones, the Deputy First Minister here in Wales, who has been incredibly supportive over Visteon, and the Pensions Regulator – that there are two specific incidents involving both Ford and Visteon that give me great cause for concerns and should be investigated further.”
Mike Gard, from Swansea and one of the Visteon pensioners, added: “The Visteon Pension Action Group has also written to the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to press for a parliamentary inquiry. And, with the Pensions Regulator compelling a business for the first time to make a pension contribution after it avoided its liabilities, there seems to be a willingness to stop this kind of practice from happening.
“I hope the Pensions Regulator approaches its investigation into Visteon as vigorously as it has done in this case.”
Bethan added: “The National Assembly does not have the powers to investigate the collapse of Visteon – it should, but it doesn’t. So we need to push for a Parliamentary inquiry.
“It is crucial that the new Westminster Government realises that if it allows Ford to get away with what happened to Visteon UK, it sends a message to every less-than-scrupulous multi-national with an in-deficit pension fund that the UK is a soft touch. We cannot afford that – and we should not afford it.”
