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date: 12 November 2008

embargo: immediate

Pensions review cannot overcome the hard choice between members and business lobbying

Commenting on the review of Section 75 of the Pensions Act, announced today (Wednesday) by Pensions Minister Rosie Winterton at a CBI breakfast, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

'Section 75 provides important protection for pension scheme members. Unions will be extremely concerned at any suggestion that it is weakened.

'We welcome the commitment from Ministers that this review will not harm pension scheme members, but we have yet to see any way that this can be reconciled with what businesses want.

'There seems to be a pretty clear choice here. Either companies meet their pension scheme liabilities or they don't. We doubt that any review can overcome this fundamental point.'

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- Further information on Section 75 of the 1995 Pensions Act is available from the DWP website www.dwp.gov.uk.

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

- Register for the TUC's press extranet: a service exclusive to journalists wanting to access pre-embargo releases and reports from the TUC. Visit www.tuc.org.uk/pressextranet

Contacts:

Media enquiries:
Rob Holdsworth T: 020 7467 1372 M: 07717 531150 E: rholdsworth@tuc.org.uk
Elly Brenchley T: 020 7467 1337 M: 07900 910624 E: ebrenchley@tuc.org.uk

Press release (300 words) issued 12 Nov 2008