Visteon protesters secure parliamentary debate next week

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MPs will debate whether Ford should recognise a duty of care to its former employees who transferred pensions to the Visteon UK pension fund next week.

The backbench debate will take place next Thursday, and will discuss the plight of ex-workers who lost pension rights when the former Ford subsidiary collapsed in 2009.

The motion for debate will be the same as an early day motion tabled by Conservative MP Stephen Metcalfe in October which was signed by 46 MPs.

It called on the government to "use the power and influence at its disposal to help ensure that Ford recognises its obligations and accepts voluntarily its duty of care to former Visteon UK pensioners".

The motion adds: "When Visteon UK Ltd was spun off from the Ford Motor Company, employees transferred from Ford's pension fund into the Visteon UK pension fund on the clear understanding that their pension rights would be unaffected; further notes that when Visteon UK subsequently went into administration, now over four years ago, former Ford employees suffered a substantial reduction in their pension rights."

It also regrets that the resolution of the legal action launched by former workers and backed by the Unite union is still some way off.

The case is currently due to be heard next November or December.

The debate comes a year after Visteon was discussed by MPs in a Westminster Hall debate in which pensions minister Steve Webb pledged to amend the Pension Protection Fund compensation cap to limit its impact on long-serving workers (PP Online, 7 December).

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