UK. Arcadia is bankrupt. What will happen to the 10,000 of its pension plan?
The pension pots of thousands of employees of Topshop owner Arcadia are hanging in the balance as the retail group is hours from collapsing into administration.
The pension scheme of the Arcadia group, which is expected to go bust today putting some 13,000 jobs at risk, is labouring under an estimated £350million deficit.
The defined benefit pension fund could potentially be picked up by the official lifeboat scheme – the Pension Protection Fund – but that would inevitably see thousands of staff suffer cuts to their retirement income.
Arcadia owner Sir Philip Green has been facing calls from MPs and unions to plug the £350million pension black hole with his own money, similarly to what he did when BHS collapsed in 2017.
Back then, Green was forced to pay £363million into the pension scheme for BHS workers after he sold the company to Dominic Chappell for £1 in 2015.
Labour MP Stephen Timms, the head of the work and pensions committee, said today it was ‘unquestionably a moral case for the Green family to do the right thing’ and stump up the funds.
Read more @This is Money
