Our Chief Executive Jonathan Isaby has a piece in The Times today, not on the BHS pension scheme, but on public sector pensions - specifically within the NHS.
As Jonathan points out, public sector pensions are broadly worth five times as much as their private counterparts. Considering how good a deal it is for those eligible it's little wonder that the number of NHS staff receiving £50,000 a year has doubled in the last five years.
The generosity of the health service scheme is a major cause of the NHS’s staffing problems. GPs are retiring in their fifties not because the work is so stressful but because they can afford to.
The NHS pension scheme has liabilities of £390 billion, more than two and a half times what the government will spend on health this year. Its assets? Nil. The NHS pension scheme, like those of the civil service, teachers, armed forces, police and firefighters is unfunded and has a deficit 684 times greater than that of BHS.
You can read Jonathan's full piece on The Times website (£).