The Fraud Compensation Fund (FCF) has paid out a total of £9.8m in compensation to three pension schemes whose members’ pension savings were lost after being unlawfully invested in the former sole trustee’s own business, Norton Motorcycles Holdings Ltd.

Dalriada Trustees has since also secured benefits for members through Standard Life using the compensation paid by the FCF, meaning that more than 200 members will gain access to the pension benefits by the end of the month.

The FCF said that it covered the financial loss from the scheme due to dishonesty, as well as scheme costs needed to investigate and progress the case.

In total, the FCF paid out around £50m in compensation to 28 schemes from November 2020 to March 2024, after a High Court ruling clarified that occupational pension schemes set up as part of a scam were eligible for FCF compensation.

However, the FCF said it expects to receive over 100 further claims with a potential value of over £400m (as at 31 March 2024).

Commenting on the news, FCF chief customer officer, Sara Protheroe, said: “We’re very pleased that scheme members’ hard-earned pension savings have been rightly restored.

"This has been a complex and distressing case for scheme members, and we sympathise with those who have been waiting a long time for redress.

“We hope this is welcome news for all those who have been impacted by this case, and also provides reassurance to all members that we are continuing to make progress on existing claims.”

Dalriada board director and chair, Tom Lukic, added: " Dalriada is delighted to have achieved this outcome for members of the Norton pension schemes.

"We understand how harrowing it is for those who believe they have lost their pension savings, and we are pleased to have been able to secure benefits for those members of the Norton schemes, as a result of the FCF compensation.

“The FCF is truly a lifeline for victims and this outcome gives reassurance to others in the same position, who have suffered uncertainty for a number of years, that there is now some light at the end of the tunnel.”

This is the latest in a string of updates on the Norton Motorcycles case, as The Pension Regulator's (TPR) recently shared a full a report into the regulatory and criminal action taken against former Norton Motorcycles owner and pension trustee, Stuart Garner, who illegally invested scheme money into his business.

TPR prosecuted Garner for three employer-related investment (ERI) breaches after he transferred almost £11m from the three pension schemes into Norton Motorcycles, which resulted in a suspended jail sentence for the former owner.

In addition to this, a determination by The Pension Ombudsman also upheld members' complaints of dishonesty and maladministration, ordering Garner to repay all the money that he invested into his own firm from the company pension schemes.

The Work and Pensions Committee (WPC) also opened an inquiry in 2023 to look at the lessons that could be learned from the Norton pension schemes case with the aim of ensuring members of pension schemes that experience losses due to dishonesty are better protected and supported in the future.

Whilst the committee was unable to publish its report on this due to the snap general election called in May, the former WPC chair, Stephen Timms, published a letter summarising the key points raised and possible areas for the government to focus on.

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