Read your comments

Below is a selection of your comments on Inside Money: We Were Robbed.

The views expressed on these pages are not necessarily the views of the BBC but will be reflective of the messages we have been sent.

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There is worse trouble brewing. A company does not need to go insolvent in order for a final salary scheme to be wound up. I contributed to a final salary scheme for 17 years, and it is now being wound up, and pension guarantees are no longer being honoured. More and more companies will do this as the extent of their liabilities becomes even clearer. Anybody with a final salary scheme which is wound up before the new legislation takes effect is at risk of being robbed.
Michael Skehin, Reading

The government that should pick up the tab and compensate. What right-thinking taxpayer would begrudge a marginal extra to prevent this? Our democratic government is supposed to be for the people by the people. We have the power to insist that this matter is dealt with as a matter of urgency. How come the government we elected can spend hours debating issues concerning the right and wrongs of chasing foxes whilst our pensioners are exposed to such unacceptable risks?
Mike Cutler, Gt Bookham

How long had the government been aware of the nightmare potential of wind-ups for deferred pensioners? Having commenced preventative action, Mr Smith should now take necessary corrective action. We want our money back!
Patricia Sargent, Gainsborough

My husband was guaranteed a pension of £18,000 and a widows pension of £9,000, which was adequate for our needs. Now not only has his pension been decimated to around £2,000, but I will no longer receive a widows pension should my husband die, thus making me a burden on the state, the very thing we tried to avoid.
Diane Skinner, Hull

I would want to support a scheme for compensation, and any fair-minded tax-payer should as well

Roger Wright, Kent

After 34 years with a European Airline, my pension has gone. Despite many verbal and written guarantees that the pension would be protected, it has gone. At 53, I do not have the time to build up another one. MPs just look after themselves. My council tax has gone up to pay for council employees' pensions.
Mike Sessions, Maidenhead

I feel desperately sorry for people like Willie Riggans. Those of us who were lucky enough to retire with a full pension should be giving our whole-hearted support to any campaign which may help them win back what has in effect been stolen from them. I would want to support a scheme for compensation, and any fair-minded tax-payer should as well.
Roger Wright, Kent

Nobody, least of all the government, warned people of the risks they were taking, even though the risks were known to experts

Andrew Parr, Sheerness

Andrew Smith's attempts to avoid responsibility and his protestations that it would be unfair to take retrospective steps to compensate pensioners ring hollow. He said he wanted to help those of us who are suffering but did not give any indication as to how. It is a pity he was not pressed on this point. He seems to have no idea, and is hoping someone else will provide a solution. Exactly what is he doing to justify the salary that he is drawing?
Ian MacDougall, Byfleet

Andrew Smith's car insurance analogy is misleading. A better example is health and safety at work. If an employer is aware of a hazard but takes no precautions, the employer is liable and suitable precautions must be put in place to prevent future problems. Nobody, least of all the government, warned people of the risks they were taking, even though the risks were known to experts. The government may now be putting in place suitable precautions for the future, but it should also pay compensation to all who have suffered.
Andrew Parr, Sheerness

This is not even 'legalised theft' - it is daylight robbery. I notice, however, that our government's pensions are secure and extremely generous. This issue is going to provoke massive trouble unless the mess is sorted out quickly. People will not only make their displeasure known through the ballot box, they will take it to the courts.
Gill Chesney-Green, Nottinghamshire

If legislation has robbed them of their investment, legislation must compensate them

Gillian MacDougall, Byfleet

Of course we feel sorry for the poor people who have been robbed of their pensions, but why do you always concentrate on this small number? As a self-employed person I had no option of paying into a final salary scheme, subsidised by an employer. Instead I have paid 25% of my income for 20 years. Current forecasts are that I will have to live to be about 110 just to reclaim my premiums. My current fund is worth about 80% of my total contributions. And if I die, my pension will be discontinued and my wife will get nothing, unless I am prepared to accept an even smaller 'second death' pension.
John A G Smith, Brighton

Those 40,000 people who have lost all or part of their pensions in wind ups have done so not because of economic conditions or malpractice, but primarily through the flawed 1995 Pensions Act. The government has tacitly acknowledged these flaws by changing the rules for the future. However they appear to have washed their hands of any responsibility to those who have already lost out. Those 40,000 people were members of largely compulsory occupational pension schemes. If legislation has robbed them of their investment, legislation must compensate them.
Gillian MacDougall, Byfleet

BBC Radio 4's Inside Money was broadcast on Saturday, 2 August and Monday, 4 August, 2003.