"We don't want to be forced to sell our home of nearly 40 years." These were the words of a couple who have battled for two decades for pensions lost when their employer collapsed. They now fear the "perfect storm" of rising energy bills, food prices and inflation could force them from their home of 40 years.
Dennis Kelleher, 74, and his wife Lesley, 72, live in Llanishen. He worked for Cardiff steelworks Allied Steel and Wire (ASW) for 25 years and paid into his pension. But the pension he paid into for years is worth a fraction of what it should be because the firm collapsed before safeguards were put in place. It is having a catastrophic effect on some of those impacted, like Phil Jones.
Cardiff-based ASW, which employed 1,000 people in Cardiff, Belfast and Kent, went bust in 2002. The employees not only lost their jobs but also their pensions. After five years of campaigning, they thought they had won a fight to get 90% of their money. But the deal they were given in 2007 was not linked to inflation, meaning 15 years later they are only getting half of what they expected.
