A major legal victory by The British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA), potentially worth a total of more than £35million pounds for 170 BALPA members, spells the end for the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) compensation cap. The pilots’ union launched its campaign for the removal of the cap when ex-BMI and ex-Monarch members were left severely out of pocket when their pension schemes entered the PPF.

Today the Court of Appeal rejected the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) challenge to last year’s High Court decision (in BALPA’s favor), that the PPF compensation cap is unlawful on grounds of age discrimination. It means the cap must be removed and affected members will be entitled to receive 90% of their expected pension under their original DB scheme with no cap applied.

John Moore, Head of Industrial Relations at BALPA, said:

“This is an important victory for BALPA and great news for pilots, many of whom were expecting to lose more than 50% of their pension as a result of the PPF compensation cap.

“We have written to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Thérèse Coffey, asking the Government not to appeal and to do the right thing - draw a line under this long-running issue and start processing the compensation increases our members are entitled to receive.  We expect all pilots subject to the cap will now receive 90% of their expected scheme pension.”