Robbing Peter to pay Paul…
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First, the Coalition Government has announced its intention to sell off part of the Royal Mail. So far so predictable. The kicker in this particular tale is that the Royal Mail is currently sitting on an £8billion (yes, you read that correctly, £8 BILLION!) pension deficit and that’s just what’s been revealed in the company accounts. The Actuarial Valuation results due soon are expected to show an even bigger deficit. This will not ordinarily make it a particularly attractive proposition for any potential buyer. |
But wait…everything is fine…the British taxpayer is going to pick up the tab…again. While the Government has said that it will seek the injection of private capital, the chances are that this will fail as it did last year when an attempt was made to sell part of it off. Vincent Cable has indicated that the Government (that’s actually you and me) will take on the pension liabilities to make it more of a viable proposition for a buyer. We already have a gaping big hole in our national finances. What’s another £8billion between friends? I would just love to see the PPF cope with this scheme!
The second story this week concerns a claim by a former senior employee of the Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) that the organisation discriminated against him on the grounds of age by sacking him before a restructuring exercise comes into effect, in an effort to avoid making him redundant just before he retired thus avoiding paying him compensation under a Civil Service compensation scheme.
I don’t want to go into the rights and wrongs here. It’s not my place. But you would think wouldn’t you that an organisation like TPAS would have taken advice not from a lawyer (their decision may well have been LEGALLY watertight) but from a PR Guru who would almost certainly have told them that bad press on something like age discrimination was bound to lead to adverse comment from bloggers and the industry alike! Common Sense, guys. Trumps economics every time!!
Have your say at Jennie Kreser’s blog spot:
http://www.pensionlawyerblog.com/pensions-sell-off
or for any related matter contact her on jik@silvermansherliker.co.uk or call +44 (0)20 7749 2700 |
