View from the Crow’s Nest
January 22, 2026
As the good ship HPPA and the Pre-97 Pension Justice fleet travel on into 2026, Patricia a.k.a. Pat offers a few words from the lookout.
As the good ship HPPA and the Pre-97 Pension Justice fleet travel on into 2026, Patricia a.k.a. Pat offers a few words from the lookout.
Patricia & 3 Pre-97 Alliance leaders met with Minister Torsten Bell for about 1 hourSays he understands our “Pre-97 pension loss” situationHeard but not likely
A very supportive article on our Pension Justice campaign from Rob Coston, Communications Manager of the trade union Nautilus International. The General Secretary of Nautilus
What about “members”? Aren’t pensions for pensioners? Yet for our defined benefit schemes, the Chapter is titled “Powers to Pay Surplus to Employers” in which
January 12th – The House of Lords begin their detailed examination of the Pension Schemes Bill in committee stage.
“The Pension Schemes Bill will implement government commitments to reform private pensions. The government intends these reforms to improve outcomes for savers nd encourage pension schemes to invest in the UK economy”
Our Chair Patricia Kennedy doesn’t let the grass grow under her feet and starts 2026 with a meeting with Torsten Bell on 7th January 2026
Alan Gemmell MP has supported the Pre97 Justice Alliance every step of the way and helped to arrange the HPPA Alliance meeting with the Pensions
Our clear message to Torsten Bell, backed up by Alliance Trustee statements for the Minister.
Our Stars at the debate were: Dame Nia Griffith – MP for Llanelli “Companies such as Hewlett Packard Enterprise, 3M and a number of others
2 responses
I am now approaching the age of 87, my wife being six years younger. You ask for cases of hardship in your attempts to prize open the coffers of Hewlett Packard.
I have now been retired for 31 years, having been forced into early retirement in 1993 by Digital. I did some sales consultancy on a self employed basis for a few years after, which helped our financial situation at the time but since 2002 we have been totally dependent on my HP pension and my depleted OAP. I started working for Digital in 1979 and transferred my previous working pension into the Digital fund, i.e. it represents 100% of my works pension contributions. Between the years of 1993 and 2001 when HP took over Compaq I received some 14% increase in my working pension (as opposed to my OAP). Since 2001 ALL of my pre-88 pension has had absolute zero increase. The only increases were due to occasional increases in the pre-97 pension, only 40% of the difference between my pre-88 and pre-97 which resulted in less than 1% in total. Which is why my income now means I cannot afford to maintain my house. The fence along the south side is now rotten and falling down. The pointing to the bricks to the south side is badly worn, in cases through to the cavities. Manyof my windows are now “blown”, such that water runs down the insides of the double glazing. My small Hyundai i10 car is now 12 years old and requires an extensive service. The solutions to all these problems are now unaffordable to me. Until I was 82 I did all these things myself to save expense. I am now still healthy but unable to do much physical work. But to try to stay solvent I remain treasurer of a company which manages a block of 58 flats. It pays for the two week holiday we both like to enjoy. But even that will soon have to go as age starts to bite me.
Is this enough “hardship”? Or do we need more? You bet we do!!
And please note that whilst it is accepted that the “pre-97” pension gets little extra the “pre-88” pension gets NONE. NOTHING. ZILCH.
But I suppose we’ll all soon be dead so just play for time HP.
Did the Trustee seek or get an update from the TPR on the situation? If so will they share the advice and comments received as any further course of action the Regulator may recommend might be useful?