“I lost 85% of the pension I was paying for – it destroyed me.”

The Department for Work and Pensions said all pensions rules were being reviewed, but confirmed there were no plans to change FAS rules.

The spokesman added: “It is important to ensure the financial sustainability of the pension protection system, while carefully balancing our responsibilities to the public purse and supporting those who would be worse off if FAS was not available.

“FAS was never intended to completely replace lost pensions. The scheme ensures that most members will receive standard assistance based on 90% of the pension benefits they have accrued when their scheme begins to end.”

As a result, Benson and Jones’ pensions will fall further and further behind their expected pensions. FAS makes payments to approximately 84,000 members, and once they retire, another 58,000 are waiting to retire and the same will happen to many of them.

“It’s financially devastating.”

Richard Nicholl, 70, also of PAG, says he wants indexation for people he promised it as part of his program. According to official estimates, it will cost around £180 million.

He added: “Our members feel very let down by the government. There are other issues we need to address, but the most urgent is the lack of pre-1997 indexation.

“If this doesn’t change, most members will be closer to 50 percent of their expected pension after about 18 to 20 years in retirement as it erodes year on year. This puts people in a dire financial situation due to inflation, especially over the last four years.

– This is a copy of the post office scandal. We have hit our heads against the wall, while previous governments had two fingers against us. We just feel like we’ve been left out and left behind.”

There is one safety net for FAS members. Despite the lack of indexation, they are guaranteed at least half of what they should receive.

This is because in 2014, a man called Grenville Hampshire took the case to the High Court, the Court of Appeal and ultimately the European Court of Justice (ECJ). In 2018, the ECJ ruled that no one should receive less than 50%. promised pension.

As a result, FAS calculates citizens’ entitlements once and increases their benefits if they are not sufficient. This approach was also the subject of legal action, but the Court of Appeal ruled in favor of the Government.

It also provides little comfort to those receiving much less than 100% of their funded pension, many of whom are struggling financially. The PPF, which runs the FAS, said it was aware of members’ views and had conveyed them to the government.

A PPF spokesman added: “Through our own contacts with FAS members, we are acutely aware of the impact of recent high inflation and members’ views on support levels, including the lack of increases on pre-1997 accrued funds.

“FAS support levels are set by law, so are ultimately at the discretion of policymakers – we have no power to change support levels.”

Despite the lack of progress, Benson remains optimistic. He says: “We never missed a protest. We will never give up.”

She also fondly remembers her seven-year-old granddaughter who joined one of the campaign marches and, entirely of her own volition, left a letter at 10 Downing Street. It simply said: “You let my grandfather down.”

Nearly 20 years later, she hasn’t seen anything to change her mind.