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wiredInUSA - September 2014
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EUROPE NEWS
A member of the UK parliament is calling
for the prime minister to intervene to save
the pensions of 500 former Carrington Wire
workers.
Barnsley Central’s Labour MP, Dan Jarvis,
has raised repeated concerns about
the length of time taken by the pensions
regulator to complete its investigation into
the pension scheme at Carrington Wire.
Concerns have been raised that former
staff face ‘serious hardship.’
Carrington Wire closed in 2010. Russian
parent company Severstal said the
decision was due to a contraction in the
steel wire market. In 2010, Craig Whittaker,
the Conservative MP for Calder Valley,
wrote to the pensions regulator, calling
for an investigation into the position of
the company’s pension scheme after
Carrington Wire was sold out of the
Severstal group.
A Severstal spokesman said: “Severstal
acquired Carrington Wire in 2006. In spite
of financial support and initiatives to return
the business to profitability, a dramatic
contraction of the market for steel wire led
to thecompany, after exploringall options,
winding down and selling the business in
2010. Severstal met all of its obligations to
fund the pension scheme while Carrington
Wire was under its ownership.”
A spokesman for the pensions regulator
said: “The investigation is ongoing, and a
hearing is listed and due to commence in
January 2015, where the Determinations
Panel will be asked to make a
determination in accordance with the
provisions of the Pensions Act.”
Calls for action over
Carrington Wire
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