Sir Philip Green must deliver a Christmas present to BHS pensioners by honouring his vow to fill the failed retailer’s pension hole, MPs said yesterday.
Frank Field, Labour chairman of the work and pensions select committee, renewed his calls for the former owner of BHS to sort out the mess, six months after the tycoon told MPs he would find a solution.
“He has made that promise in many ways, many times, before and since. But he hasn’t done it,” Mr Field said. “I would like to ask now, on behalf of the BHS pensioners: Sir Philip, what have you sorted?
“What a fantastic Christmas gift it would be to the 20,000 pensioners counting on Sir Philip if he were to keep that promise now.”
Mr Field increased the pressure as the committee released details of the impact the chain’s collapse had already had on some of its pensioners.
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A letter from Alan Rubenstein, chief executive of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF), the industry-funded lifeboat body for failed company schemes, said that 1,559 BHS pensioners had suffered a 10 per cent cut to their benefits. Most of those were members who had retired early for reasons other than ill health and were below the age of 60 when BHS collapsed.
Responding to the letter Mr Field said: “We also know that all 20,000 will have the annual indexation increases that they should be able to expect reduced, and 2,620 of the most elderly pensioners will receive nothing to combat annual increases in the cost of living.”
Sir Philip is in talks with the Pensions Regulator over a deal that would save the scheme, reported in the summer to have a deficit of £571 million, from being formally passed to the PPF and potentially avoid a 10 per cent cut to the future benefits of scheme members who have yet to retire.
BHS was put into administration in April, a little over a year after it was sold for £1 by Sir Philip’s family to a consortium headed by Dominic Chappell, a racing driver and former bankrupt.
The collapse cost 11,000 jobs and damaged the reputation of Sir Philip, whose family had taken millions of pounds out of BHS in dividends. It also triggered a number of investigations, including by the work and pensions committee.
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The Pensions Regulator launched legal action last month against Sir Philip in an effort to force him to reach a settlement.
Sir Philip, who has robustly defended his leadership and sale of BHS, is understood to have offered close to £350 million but the regulator is understood to be uncomfortable with the structure of the deal being proposed.