The Pension Protection Fund

The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) was established on 6 April 2005 as a statutory fund to pay compensation to members of underfunded defined benefit occupational pension schemes whose sponsoring employer has become insolvent.

The statutory provisions governing the operation of the PPF are contained in the Pensions Act 2004 (PeA 2004), ss 107–220 and Sch 7, and underlying regulations.

For an outline of the operation of the PPF as a statutory compensation fund and how it interacts with defined benefit and hybrid occupational pension schemes, see Practice Note: The Pension Protection Fund—an introduction.

Entry and eligibility

Schemes must satisfy certain statutory requirements to be eligible for entry into the PPF. In particular, a scheme must be an eligible scheme, and a qualifying insolvency event must have occurred in relation to a sponsoring employer.

Not all schemes are eligible for entry into the PPF, eg money purchase schemes or schemes in winding-up immediately before 6 April 2005. Certain other types of scheme are specifically excluded from entry into the PPF.

The PPF will also only assume responsibility for a scheme if the scheme's assets

To view the latest version of this document and thousands of others like it, sign-in with LexisNexis or register for a free trial.

TAKE A FREE TRIAL

Latest Pensions News

Pensions Dashboards: the countdown is on with one year to go until final connection deadline of 31 October 2026

The Pensions Dashboard Programme (PDP) has issued a press release to mark the ‘major milestone’ that there is now one year until the final connection deadline of 31 October 2026, by which all pension schemes and providers in scope must be connected to the pensions dashboard’s ecosystem. With one year to go, the focus now shifts from building infrastructure to ensuring every organisation meets its obligations on time. Since the first connection in April 2025, over 700 schemes and providers have joined, covering around 60 million pension records, including the State Pension. Testing of the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard is progressing well, with early user trials underway—clear evidence that dashboards are becoming a reality the PDP concludes.

Research finds millions of savers have lost track of pension pots

Law360: Millions of savers could be missing out on valuable retirement funds, Standard Life announced on 29 October 2025, as new research revealed widespread confusion and neglect around workplace pensions.

Pensions weekly highlights—30 October 2025

This week's edition of Pensions weekly highlights includes a review of key news stories, as well as dates for your diary and trackers.

PPI publishes second report on retirement saving among low earners

The Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) has published the second report in its ‘From Payslip to Pension: Life Course Impacts on Retirement Saving Among Low Earners’ series. The report examines how the life courses of low earners interact with workplace pension savings and is published as the Pensions Commission examines pension adequacy. The series, funded by a grant from the Nuffield Foundation, will run until summer 2026 and comprise five individual reports in total.