Member story: Brian Bower

Brian is a Woolworths pension scheme member who is protected by the PPF.

Brian worked for Woolworths for 37 years and was shocked when the company collapsed in 2009. The news had a major impact on his life at the time as he was close to being of pension age, but this made it difficult to find a new job.

He wasn’t immediately drawn to think about his pension until he was informed that it was going to be looked after by the PPF. 

The 67-year-old from Marlow, Buckinghamshire, started saving into his Woolworths’ final salary pension scheme in his second year of employment. When Woolworths was taken over by Kingfisher and the company started to split up, employees were given the option to go with the Kingfisher pension scheme or stay with the Woolworths pension scheme.

Brian, along with many colleagues, decided to stay loyal to Woolworths and the pension scheme transferred to the PPF.

"For me there’s safety in knowing the PPF is there and the knowledge of the people running their systems is really good."

“Without a proper pension I would have been in dire straits," said Brian. "The PPF has provided me with security. You hear people that have been in schemes and literally weeks before they retire their company goes bust and they're not covered by the PPF. I just feel reassured that come hell or high water the PPF is being run by a trustworthy management team.

"I've always been in favour of any pension scheme and you can't expect not to contribute to something for your latter days, particularly as people live longer. For me there’s safety in knowing the PPF is there and the knowledge of the people running their systems is really good.”

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