Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of establishing a process to allow Atomic Energy Authority Technology pension scheme closed section members to leave the Pension Protection Fund and re-join a public sector pension scheme, including the UK Atomic Energy Authority scheme.

The Pension Protection Fund is a compensation scheme, and its operating structure reflects this. The Pension Protection Fund does not operate as a segregated fund, where individual schemes contributions are ringfenced. Once a scheme transfers to the Pension Protection Fund, the scheme does not exist anymore.

Through the Pension Schemes Act, we have taken action by introducing legislation to provide annual increases on compensation payments from the Pension Protection Fund on pensions built up before 6 April 1997, where schemes provided for this. We are now focusing on the implementation of this change, and I can confirm that AEAT members with pre-97 accrual will benefit.