Resistance by the Thorn and EMI Pensioners Association (TEPA) has kept £50M in their pension fund that would otherwise have gone towards the profits of Nomura (who took over Thorn).

We reported before on the background and the relevance to IBM,  here and here.

Here are some newspaper reports:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-5-497386,00.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,850978,00.html

http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/story.jsp?story=357123

From an AMIPP point of view this result is encouraging, because it is a success for a members' organisation.  But it is not so encouraging about a result from the Ombudsman.  OPRA did not rule in favour of TEPA and their first decision, which TEPA appealed, was in favour of the company.  The law firm Hammond Suddards Edge acted for free on behalf of TEPA.  Their solicitor said "If they [TEPA] had not persevered, the trustees would have been free to pay the money back to the employer".  It does appear that where the consumer has found protection it is through strikes, the threat of strikes, or making trustees rethink, not through the actions of the regulators.