Thousands of workers who were denied pensions because they worked part-time could be in line for a windfall.

The expectations follow a landmark decision by one of the UK's largest financial institutions to compensate some staff.

HSBC is to spend about �25m backdating pensions of part-time staff in line with full-time employees, who have worked for the bank since 1976.

The payouts, will affect up to 3,500 staff and follows a House of Lords ruling last year which clarified an earlier court decision to compensate some part-time workers for lost pensions.

The decision by HSBC is expected to have implications for other part-time workers, especially those in the public sector, where tens of thousands of workers have already filed similar claims.

Part-time rights

Since the early 1990s, part-time employees have been trying to gain the same rights as full-time workers to pensions.

Following a batch of six European Court of Justice cases in September 1994 - known as the "six pack" - tens of thousands of claims were presented in the Employment Tribunals in the UK on behalf of part-time employees.

They wanted to gain access to occupational pension schemes dating back to April 1976.

It took until the beginning of last year to get clarification, as the case was shuffled between the House of Lords and the European Court of Justice.

In February, the House of Lords decided:

• Claims had to be brought during employment or within six months after the end of employment.

• Access to the pension scheme could be back-dated to the date on which employment started or April 1976.

Can of worms

Those HSBC workers who will benefit from the ruling fits within the parameters of the House of Lords' decision.

But, HSBC said that there could be others who are affected, and may come within the settlement.

Such a lengthy legal process - seven years - is likely to warn off other organisations and companies - and some are expected to offer similar compensation following HSBC's decision to settle claims.

For example, there are already 60,000 claims lodged from part-time workers, two-thirds of whom are public sector workers.

This legal ruling, however, is unlikely to conclude the matter of part-time rights to pensions.

While many part-time staff now get the same benefits as full-time employees, and the House of Lords as a test case gives some rights to backdate payments, it is unlikely to be the end of the matter.

People who left HSBC and did not claim within six months of leaving will not qualify.

A source close to HSBC said that there were likely to be subsequent claims from those who were not covered by the House of Lords ruling.