It allows us to pay inflation increases up to 2.5 per cent per year, on pre-97 compensation (for PPF members) and standard assistance payments (for FAS members).
However, the law only allows us to do this where the original schemes provided for mandatory pre-97 increases.
We’ve reviewed the rules of the schemes we look after, to determine which of these provided mandatory inflation increases on pre-97 pensions. From 7 July, we’ll be contacting all members who will be eligible for pre-97 increases, to make them aware of the changes to their entitlement.
There are two groups of members who will be eligible for pre-97 increases:
Members whose scheme rules required the payment of indexation on benefits relating to pre-1997 service: Many schemes had rules that required mandatory inflation increases on pre-97 pension benefits. Members belonging to these schemes will, in most cases, start getting increases on all of their pre-97 benefits from the PPF and FAS.
Members whose scheme rules provided pre-1997 indexation only on post-1988 Guaranteed Minimum Pensions: Some schemes provided pre-97 inflation increases only on Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) benefits built up on or after 6 April 1988 and no inflation increases on any other pre-97 pension benefits. GMP is a minimum level of pension that some pension schemes had to provide and mandatory increases were payable on GMP benefits built up between 6 April 1988 and 5 April 1997. Members of those schemes will, in most cases, get increases on a proportion of their pre-97 benefits from the PPF and FAS.
In the lists below, you’ll find the PPF and FAS schemes eligible to receive each of these types of pre-97 increases. The first list covers schemes that provided mandatory pre-97 indexation on more than just post-1988 GMP benefits. The second list covers schemes that provided pre-97 indexation only on post-1988 GMPs.
Additional information to read carefully before you search for your scheme
- If your scheme does not appear on either list, there will be no change to the increases you currently receive from the PPF/FAS.
- Some schemes had different sections and sometimes those sections had different rules for paying increases.
- If we’ve listed sections of a scheme, then only members of those specific sections, with service before 6 April 1997, will become eligible for pre-97 increases. If you aren’t sure which section you were a member of, you can find out by logging into the member website (www.ppf.co.uk/members for PPF members and www.ppf.co.uk/fasmembers for FAS members), and viewing your Membership Details. If you haven’t registered for the website, you’ll find a step by step guide here: Registering online for the first time | Pension Protection Fund
- If you were in a different section of the scheme that does not appear on either list, there will be no change to the increases you receive from the PPF/FAS.
- We’ll keep these lists updated, but if your scheme has only very recently transferred to the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) and it is eligible, it might not be showing yet.
- Schemes marked with an asterisk had mixed rules for paying mandatory increases. For these schemes, not all members will be eligible, or there could be different members of the same scheme in either of the above categories. If this impacts you, you can contact us for further information.
- Some FAS members don’t receive ‘standard assistance’ because their scheme could have afforded to provide more than that. For those FAS members, although their scheme might be listed below, the increases on their assistance will continue to depend on what their former scheme could have afforded to pay.