'It's time you said sorry, Mr Brown' Pension apology demanded.

Byline: David James 

THE Government has backed down in its court battle with pensions campaigners without apologising to victims.

The Echo has learned that the Department for Work and Pensions will not appeal against the verdict of Appeal Court judges who blamed it for pensions victims' suffering.

Former South Wales steelworkers said Prime Minister Gordon Brown must now stand up in the Commons and say sorry. Although the Government agreed to compensate pensions victims after a five-and-a-half-year battle, it has never admitted responsibility for their plight.

Former Allied Steel and Wireworker John Benson, 61, of Dinas Powys, said: "I personally believe the Prime Minister is the person mainly responsible for this terrible injustice.

"He should make a statement in the Commons apologising to all the workers and their families whose lives for the past five and a half years he and his Government have totally destroyed."

Two successive court verdicts in the United Kingdom have upheld a parliamentary Ombudsman's decision that the Government was guilty of "maladministration".

The High Court and the Court of Appeal focused on the fact the Department of Work and Pensions encouraged workers to save without ensuring that those savings were secure.

After the last hearing in February, Lord Justice Chadwick concluded the Government's failures "caused a sense of outrage, distress, anxiety and uncertainty as well the loss of opportunities to make more informed choices".

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions initially said the Government was considering appealing.

But when asked by the Echo this week, a spokeswoman confirmed it had now decided not to.

She said: "We have studied the judgement by the court and have decided not to appeal."

She said the Government was hoping to start the extra payments to pensions victims agreed in the extension of the Financial Assistance scheme at the end of May.

Pensions campaigner Ros Altman said she backed the city steelworkers calling for Mr Brown to apologise.

She said the decision not to appeal was made at the last minute before the Government's deadline expired and was "hardly surprising" considering the strength of the Court of Appeal's judgement.

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STEELWORKERS' BATTLE

THE FIGHT STARTS July 2002: Allied Steel and Wire collapses which ultimately results in 1,000 workers in Cardiff and Sheerness, Kent, losing their life savings and being forced to launch a battle for compensation.

FIRST VICTORY March 2006: Ombudsman Ann Abrahams concludes pensions information was "inaccurate, incomplete, unclear and inconsistent". She rules the Government is guilty of maladministration and should refund pensions victims. The Department for Work and Pensions rejects her conclusions.

SECOND VICTORY March 2007: In a test case brought by pensions victims, the High Court upholds the Ombudsman's ruling that the Government was guilty of maladministration. The Department for Work and Pensions immediately announces an appeal.

THIRD VICTORY February 2008: The Court of Appeal rejects the Government's appeal and reaffirms Ms Abrahams' finding. Lord Justice Chadwick goes further to find a direct link between the Government's failings and pension victims' suffering. The Department for Work and Pensions says it will consider appealing to the House of Lords.

FOURTH VICTORY March 2008: The Government confirms it will not appeal.