The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) was set up in April 2005 to protect you if your employer goes bust and its pension scheme can no longer afford to pay you your promised pension.

If you are a member of an eligible scheme, and you have reached the scheme's normal pension age, we will generally pay you 100 per cent compensation for what you should have received at the time your employer went bust. We will also generally pay 100 per cent compensation to those who have retired on legitimate ill-health grounds, regardless of age, and to those receiving a pension in relation to someone who has died.

If you have retired but have not yet reached the normal pension age of your scheme, we will pay you up to 90 per cent compensation. The same applies if you are yet to start receiving pension payments. The total level of compensation is subject to an overall cap which is recalculated each year. Between April 2008 and March 2009, the cap at the age of 65 is set at £30,856.35 This equates to £27,770.72 for those receiving compensation at the 90 per cent level.

In all cases, increases in future payments won't be as much as expected.

Our introductory leaflet, Introducing the PPF  (ink-friendly version) gives an overview of who we are, what we do, the schemes we protect and the compensation we pay.

Our Ten Things you Need to Know About the PPF leaflet (ink-friendly version) dispels some of the misconceptions you may have heard about us.

Prior to receiving compensation direct from the PPF, your scheme has to go through an assessment process. Our leaflet Your journey to becoming a member of the Pension Protection Fund (ink-friendly version) explains what you can expect to happen during and after this process.

Our Protecting People's Pensions leaflet ( ink-friendly version) explains how compensation works, and give some fictitious examples which show how you may be affected if you begin to receive PPF compensation payouts.