quotes extensively from a PA consulting report on the FCA that was disclosed as part of a bundle of documents by the Gloster report into the mishandling of LCF complaints. That report can be found at the end of this blog.

The problem the FCA now finds itself in can only be resolved if the legal case from the British Steel Action Group is considered groundless and if Alistair Rush’s complaint is not upheld.

In the meantime, steelworkers find themselves getting “offers” from their advisers in the low hundreds of pounds to settle.

How can this possibly be right? Steelworkers being exhorted to complain, their advisers taking legal action not to have to provide redress, their Regulator subject to a complaint on their behalf and nearly 6 years having elapsed since the start of this affair?

The problem is one of accountability. While the steelworkers have had representatives including Rich Caddy, Philippa Hain and Al Rush campaigning for them, this matter has been passed from one executive at the FCA to another with the hapless Rathi left holding the parcel as the music stops.

Meanwhile redress seems as far away as ever. The redress scheme’s anticipated pay-out has fallen by a quarter.

But the one hope that the steelworkers have is that the economic conditions which prevail today – which have so far reduced compensation – may well revert to something approaching those which prevailed during “Time to Choose”. If this low-interest environment exists  when redress is finally paid, steelworkers may find “compo” to be worthwhile again.

In the meantime they remain the victims of a system which puts them last.

My sympathy for Nikhil Rathi is limited, when I think of the circumstance the steelworkers find themselves in.

And if Government can afford £600m to turn steelworks green, perhaps it can pull its fingers out to help the people who work in them get justice.

Appendix

That PA Consulting report in full.