THE Government is to bail out workers who lost all or part of their pensions when Allied Wire and Steel (ASW) went bust in 2002.

About 350 former employees of the firm are to get 90 per cent of their pensions back under a £2.9bn nationwide rescue scheme.

Work and Pensions Secretary Peter Hain is today setting out plans in Parliament to restore 140,000 people’s pensions.

It brings to an end a five-year campaign by the Pensions Action Group to get the Government to take action.

The Sheppey workers faced a bleak future when ASW went bankrupt in 2002 – meaning they lost part or all their pensions.

Now they will get 90 per cent of their pensions backdated to the age of 62 up to a maximum of £26,000.

Sheppey’s MP Derek Wyatt said: "This is a major achievement and one I’ve spent 350 hours on since 2002. It will mean the taxpayer funding some of the scheme but the campaign is finally over.

"The ASW workers have been caught in the middle of old and new legislation."

Campaigner Andrew Parr, 62, from Seaside Avenue, Minster, near Sheerness, speaking to the Sheerness Times Guardian from Parliament today, said: "This is a fantastic early Christmas present for all of us. It is a massive change of the Government’s position and shows the strength of our case.

"It is a final end to our fight and is a vast improvement to what we have had in the past. It means I will get £1,800 a year backdated to 2006 when I reached 62."

The ASW package is part of a £2.9bn rescue scheme for 140,000 workers around the country who lost their pensions when their companies went bust.

That brings them in line with other workers covered by the Pensions Protection Fund, set up two years ago.

The breakthrough follows a sustained campaign from workers, and criticism from MPs, the Parliamentary Ombudsman and others.