Carol Robins, of Cardiff, worked as a clerk at Allied Steel and Wire for 42 years until it went bankrupt in 2002.

After contributing up to £58 a month to her company pension scheme for most of that time, Ms Robins expected to receive a retirement income of £8,000 a year. However when the company folded, she was left with just £800 a year.

Until yesterday, the 63-year-old, who now works four days a week at Tesco, feared that she would not have the funds to support herself and her invalid father when she retires in two years’ time. However, Ms Robins will now receive £7,200 a year after the Government finally agreed to help people who lost savings when their employer-sponsored pension schemes collapsed.

Ms Robins said: “We couldn’t believe it when the company closed. All of that time I had saved only to hear most of it was gone. We were always meant to believe our pensions would be safe and now our faith has been restored, somewhat.”

She added: “After many years of disappointment this last announcement was so unexpected. I have absolutely no idea why they changed their mind. Perhaps after coming through for Northern Rock the Government felt they must support us too. We can’t thank the unions enough.”

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