GOVERNMENT proposals to tackle pensions have been criticised by Kent Labour MP Derek Wyatt for ignoring the problems experienced by steelworkers at ASW Sheerness.

Mr Wyatt, MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey, said the long-awaited Pensions Green Paper, published on Monday did nothing to help employees of firms that go bust and wind up their pension schemes.

He said: "The Green Paper failed to acknowledge that at least 40 schemes in the private sector went into administration last year. The amount stolen, missing or abducted from these funds is thought to be £4 billion.

"What hope does the Green Paper give our people who innocently took out these pensions? None."

Mr Wyatt has been campaigning with steelworkers for compensation and a change in the law to protect workers like those at ASW Sheerness, whose occupational pensions have been slashed since the firm when into administration.

Although the Green Paper proposes ways to protect employees at bankrupt firms, it is only a consultation document and is unlikely to become law until 2005.

Keith Plowman, chairman of the Sheerness Pensions Fund Action Group, said: "I'm pleased that they have taken some action for people who are affected in the future but what happened to us was immoral and we are determined to get some action on it.

"I feel very angry. It was the law that said we had to be in the pension scheme, and now they are saying they can walk away from it without any financial penalty at all."