PERSONAL data of thousands of BAE pension holders has been stolen by hackers, the company has said.

Certain holders of BAE pensions with outsourcing group Capita had data taken following a cyberattack that may have affected hundreds of UK companies.

The trustee of BAE's pension fund has said around 8,000 members of the BAE Systems Pension Scheme with Shipbuilding Industries Pension Scheme benefits had data stolen during the incident.

Those affected have been warned to stay alert amid fears stolen personal information may be used to 'deceive or otherwise defraud them'.

Members of the scheme have had their pensions transferred to a new provider.

It is understood some pension holders from Barrow have been affected, with BAE writing to those affected to inform them of what data has been stolen and 'to make them aware and provide them with details of ongoing support and guidance'.

A statement released by BAE's pension trustee said: "The Trustee sincerely apologises that this incident has occurred.

"We take the protection of our members’ data very seriously and we regret that some of our members’ data has been compromised in this way.

"Capita confirmed to the Trustee that on becoming aware of the incident, it took immediate steps to secure its systems and prevent any further unauthorised access to personal data.

"We are proactively engaging with Capita in respect of its ongoing investigations and we are doing everything we can, as advised by our lawyers and other professional support, to minimise any further risk to members."

The company said it would work with the country's data watchdog on any potential investigation.

It added: "We have reported this incident to the Information Commissioner's Office and will work with it on any investigation it chooses to conduct and any recommendations it might subsequently make. We have also informed the Pensions Regulator.

"We want to reassure members that their pensions will continue to be paid as normal."

The pension trustee said it was alerted to the cyber incident after it arose on March 31.

It said it was informed on May 18 that details of certain pension scheme members had been accessed by hackers.

It is expected that all SIPS Benefits pensions set up before March 2023 have been affected by the incident, according to the pension trustee.

The administration of the BAE Systems Pension Scheme for members with SIPS benefits transferred to Mercer on June 1.