Protected rights!! What are they?

On the British pension scene we have the thorny issue of protected rights. These can now be transferred into a SIPP.
www.searchifa.co.uk The area of protected rights should be a good one for IFAs to give independent advice. Companies seemed to have washed their hands over trying to help out their employees in this area. In fact, it is pretty hard to get pension advice anywhere.
The collapse of corporate pension schemes, such as defined benefit ones, have made state pensions more valuable. The state scheme should be the cornerstone of pension planning. I suppose the tax raid on defined benefit schemes sanctioned by the then Chancellor of Exchequer Gordon Brown was based on an understanding that the sponsor companies would make up the difference. In fairness, increasing longevity would badly hit the pension schemes of firms. Perhaps, the demise of Equitable Life made people question the security and certainty of pensions. Despite being told by the Parliamentary ombudsman, the Labour government has not helped the victims of Equitable Life.
I invested in an Equitable Life with-profits fund and it was not funny aking the hit when I transferred. The authorities regulated the firm, which was originally founded in the 1760s, but provided no compensation. British personal depositors in Icelandic banks got their money back, where there was no UK regulation. However, this was not the case for Dutch and German depositors (I think), who really took a hit.