MORE than 120 pensioners could be left out of pocket after being told they have been overpaid by their pension scheme.

Some former oil refinery workers at what is now known as Petrochem Carless in Parkeston have been told they must pay back cash after their pension was taken over by the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) in 2013.

Members had been advised to award five 1.5 per cent annual increases to pensioners between 2004 and 2010 by financial advisers.

Now pensioners are being asked to repay money, with some being asked for more than £30,000.

A former business director at the company Denis Windle, 73, who now lives in Buckinghamshire, was a chairman and a member nominated trustee of the pension scheme.

He said: “They are saying we should pay the money back.

“Each scheme is different, but what is clearly unfair and wrong is for the FAS to penalise innocent scheme members for the mistakes of others.”

A spokesman for the FAS said: “A number of issues have come to light about the pensions paid to members of the Petrochem Carless pension scheme before it transitioned to the Financial Assistance Scheme.

“Previous errors mean that some members have been paid too much.

“These errors were not ours or the members’ but, unfortunately, one of the things we are required to do is to look back at problems like this.

“We are in the process of contacting the members about what this means for their individual circumstances and reviewing options where members may be unable to repay the overpayment."