The pension dispute between the Hirwaun YMCA chair and the YMCA pension scheme has been referred to the Cardiff County Court to be heard by a Chancery Circuit judge.

The Hirwaun branch chair, Colin Shaw, is asking the court to throw out a statutory demand by the YMCA Pension Plan Trustee Ltd for an £18,200 Section 75 debt that the pension scheme claims the charity owes.

Shaw does not dispute that two of the charity’s former employees paid into the pension fund or that the shortfall exists, but argues that it is the pension scheme’s fault that the debt has arisen, because it did not manage the scheme properly to ensure there would be sufficient funds available to meet its obligations.  “It’s their debt, not our debt,” said Shaw.

He says the YMCA branch will close if its clubhouse has to be sold to pay the debt.

Shaw said the Aberdare County Court judge that heard the case on Thursday was sympathetic to the charity’s plight but that to set the demand aside as Shaw was requesting would have far-reaching implications.  So he referred it to the higher court.

A date for the hearing has not yet been set but is expected to be in about a month.

Shaw said he had already been served with a statement of costs by Bates Wells and Braithwaite, the lawyers acting for the pension scheme, totalling £3,200, but Shaw said he told them: “You haven’t won yet.”