Britain plans pension for Tata steel UK

Seeking to overcome the biggest stumbling block in securing a deal for Tata Steel, the UK government on Thursday unveiled a unique pensions compromise sche-me to secure the sale of the Indian conglomerate’s loss making UK assets and save thousands of jobs.

UK business secretary Sajid Javid, who has just returned from a meeting with the Tata Group board in Mumbai, launched a consultation on the proposed changes to an employees’ pensions scheme in the House of Commons. “No decision has been made. We are wary of setting a precedent. This is very much about this scheme and this scheme only, in very unique circumstances,” he told MPs.

One option under discussion is to base the scheme’s annual increase on the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation measure, which is usually below the Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure currently used.

UK trade unions welcomed the consultation, saying: “We need to ensure that there are cast iron safeguards in place so this unique situation does not result in employers dodging their pension responsibility.” The British Steel pension scheme has 1.3 lakh members, with a deficit of £485 million.