Former steelworkers reveal all for pension compensation

The men used to work at the ASW plant in Sheerness, on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, and lost their occupational pensions when the company went into liquidation last year.

A total of 300 workers were made redundant at the plant and many employees were told they would not receive their full company pensions because of a shortfall in the fund.

They have been campaigning ever since for compensation from the government and have already been to see the Works and Pensions Minister Andrew Smith.

They told him the 1995 Pensions Act was flawed and had left them facing retirement in poverty.

We've been robbed of every right we had. Former ASW steelworker

As part of their protest a group of the workers stripped down to their underpants on the seafront at the Dorset resort.

Full Monty

The 'Calendar Boys' bared nearly all behind a huge banner on the beach.

The men said they were stripping to make the point that they had been stripped of their pensions.

One of the group explained: "We've been robbed of every right we had."

Derek Wyatt, MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey, has been involved in their campaign for compensation.

He said the men had no choice but to join the ASW pension scheme as it had been a condition of their employment.

"They have to get compensation. Some of the money lost was also their deferred wages," he pointed out.