The Work and Pensions Committee is to look at the lessons that can be learned from the experience of the collapse of the Norton pension schemes with the aim of ensuring members of collapsed pension schemes are better protected and supported in the future.
The assets in the Norton pension schemes were invested in the Norton Motorcycle Holdings Ltd which went into administration in 2020. The sole trustee of the schemes, Stuart Garner, was also the sole director of the company. Whistleblowers raised concerns with the Pensions Regulator (TPR) in 2013 and independent trustees were appointed in 2019.
In March 2022, Mr Garner was given a suspended jail sentence for illegally investing pension schemes’ money into his business. The independent trustee said in April this year that it expects to be able to recover a small proportion of the funds owed through the liquidation and bankruptcy processes. It is waiting to be able to make a claim to the Fraud Compensation Fund.
The inquiry will consider The Pensions Regulator’s approach to preventing loss of pension assets through fraud or dishonesty and whether there is scope to speed up the process of assessing eligibility for compensation and making payments. It will also examine the role played by bodies such as independent trustees, the Pensions Ombudsman, the Pensions Regulator, the Pension Protection Fund (in its role as administrator of the Fraud Compensation Fund).
Read the call for evidence for more detail about the inquiry.