WORKERS made redundant when an engineering company in the region collapsed were last night assured they would not be left out of pocket after their former employer defaulted on payments into their pension funds.

The Northern Echo revealed earlier this week how Malcolm Engineering Company (MEC), in Darlington, had missed contributions to the pension funds of its 60 former employees after falling into administration in August.

The company, which has traded in Darlington for more than 40 years, initially defaulted on payments for July and August, but now only the July contribution remains outstanding.

However, last night, MEC's administrator, Geoffrey Martin and Co, said the matter would be resolved within the next two months, and that any future payments would be made as normal.

Administrator John Twizell said: "We would like to assure all of the former employees of Malcolm Engineering Company that the outstanding pension payment for July will be paid in full.

"It was unfortunate that the July payment was referred by the bank prior to the company entering into administration in August.

"This will now be reclaimed through the Redundancy Payments Office, which we would expect to take six to eight weeks to complete. The appropriate payment for those remaining employees who are part of the company pension scheme will be made for the month of September."

MEC closed two weeks ago after administrators declared the search for a buyer "unachievable" when its remaining two big clients - Nissan and ThyssenKrupp Automotive (TKA) Tallent Chassis - withdrew their orders.