You are right, in a way. If they can't service the debts themselves, and they can't take out a loan to cover it, they have to go bankrupt. In reality, the pens

You are right, in a way. If they can't service the debts themselves, and they can't take out a loan to cover it, they have to go bankrupt. In reality, the pension provider probably should declare bankrupcy. In theory, FSCS / PPF should kick in and most people should still get some kind of pension out of it - albeit a lot less than they expected. However... I don't know much about the bankrupcy procedure. Would administrators have to be called in? Would they then chase these customers anyway? I don't see any way out of this cock-up of a law without the law itself being changed. It's bonkers. [UPDATE] Actually, it turns out that's almost exactly what they've done https://www.plumbingpensions.co.uk/plumbing-pensions-to-close-on-30-june-2019-2/ https://www.plumbingpensions.co.uk/plumbing-pensions-to-clos... By closing their doors and handing the pension pots on to other providers, anybody still a member is completely safe. The problem is, the guy in the original post stopped being a member, which is what has triggered the legal problems. If you want to see the government position on this, it's here: https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-7684 https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Sum... ... and they aren't willing to do anything about it, for fear that people might use any fallout mitigation to walk away from being responsible employers.