MP to meet ex-Early's employees (From Witney Gazette)

MP to meet ex-Early's employees

9:00am Wednesday 18th October 2006 in Witney By Amanda Williams

WITNEY MP David Cameron is to meet former employees of the Early's blanket factory, in Witney, who were left with no pension after the company shut down.

Mr Cameron has spent years pressing the Government to find out whether the scores of former workers can receive some compensation under the Financial Assistance Scheme.

They spent years paying into the scheme, but were ultimately left with nothing.

Mr Cameron is stepping up his campaign by pressing Pensions Minister, James Purnell, for answers and meeting ex-workers on October 27.

He told the Witney Gazette: "I have asked questions in Parliament, and raised it in speeches. These people should be eligible for assistance, as some of them paid into a pension scheme for 30 or 40 years. I have got to get to the bottom of it, but I wrote to the minister in July, and have not had an answer yet."

In 2004, then Pensions Secretary, Andrew Smith, MP for Oxford East, announced that a fund of £400m of public money, the Financial Assistance Scheme, had been set up to help people like the Early's workers.

It followed pressure from unions and MPs, including Mr Cameron, who were fighting for changes to the Government's Pensions Bill, to include backdated protection for up to 60,000 people across the country.

Among them are former employees of Early's blanket mill, which closed in July 2002, bringing an end to over 300 years of blanket manufacturing in the town. The loss of a proud tradition was not the only blow to the 70 workers who lost their jobs. Some who worked there for decades also faced no payout on their company pensions.

Former worker John Brooks, 67, of Westfield Road, Witney, said: "I paid into a pension for 38 years, and nothing came out. A group of the members are meeting Mr Cameron to push it forward, but at the moment, we don't know when, or if we will get our money."

Tony Clapton, 68, of Heath Lane, Bladon, joined Early's when he was 15, and worked there all his life. He reached the retirement age of 65 in June 2003.

He said: "Even if I got out what I paid in without the company's contribution, that would be something." Mr Clapton had been expecting a lump sum of about £18,000, and a pension. About 70 people were made redundant, but many others were affected when the pension scheme closed in May 2002, two months before the factory shut for good.

In May this year, the Government proposed to extend the coverage of the Financial Assistance Scheme, bringing its total commitment to £2.3bn. It is hoped the extension will be introduced by the end of the year. A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: "We are continuing to work with the trustees of the Early's scheme to establish whether they are in a position to request initial payments."