West Midlands Pension Fund delays compounding Coventry widower’s grief

Last year, the BBC heard thousands of people who had recently retired were facing long delays for payments.

The fund has more than 340,000 members working for more than 850 employers, including local authorities in Birmingham, Solihull, Coventry and the Black Country. It’s the second largest Local Government Pension Scheme, holding more than £21bn in assets.

However, 11 Labour MPs are asking the government to launch an investigation into “wholly unacceptable” ongoing delays to payments.

A letter to Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall, written by Halesowen MP Alex Ballinger highlighted the case of constituent Mark Harding, who waited nine months after retiring before he received a pension payment.

Mr Ballinger said: “It’s completely outrageous. We need to get those delays down, there needs to be some accountability. If it doesn’t improve, as a local government pension provider, there needs to be some heads rolling.”

The government has described the delays as “completely unacceptable”.

“While the fund’s performance appears to be improving, we have asked those responsible to fix this issue as quickly as possible so hardworking pensioners can get the payments they deserve on time,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said.