So those already receiving a pension get paid first, whilst current serving staff (and those who have left the company but not currently in receipt of a pension) would be at the bottom of the list and might not receive much at all if indeed anything.
No longer the case since April or May 2005 (not completly certain of the exact date). Legislation changed that anomaly.
And in reply to Chippy of Texas, quite what a crook like Maxwell illegally using a pension fund to illegally prop up his house of cards has to do with the price of eggs I am not sure.