The Pensions Regulator recovered over £650m for defined benefit pension schemes last year, over half of the entire amount it has recovered since its launch in 2005.
Figures from the regulator’s annual report showed that settlements in DB avoidance cases including those from the BHS and Coats schemes pushed up the amount recovered to £650m, including £363m in the BHS case and the £255m cash injection in the case of Coats Group.
“Everyone has played their part in helping the organisation to deliver effectively against the objectives given to us by Parliament and, ultimately, to achieving better outcomes for people saving into work-based pension schemes,” said chairman Mark Boyle, in the report.
However, the recovery came at a cost, with expenditure by the regulator up from £62.8m to £74.8m since last year.
The report also showed the executives’ pay, with the chief executive taking home between £220,000 and £225,000 including pension, compared with £205,000 and £210,000 the previous year.
David Crozier, from Navigator Financial Planning in Northern Ireland, said that the deals done on BHS and Coats and other similar deals were helpful.
“If a company is trying to avoid its responsibilities with its pension through manipulating the figures tehn that is shameful,” he said.
The report also revealed that for the first time last year, the number of members of defined contribution (DC) schemes outstripped those in defined benefit schemes.
The change marks a massive shift for savers, which sees the burden of responsibility for ensuring a healthy retirement income move from employer to employee.
Transfers from defined benefit schemes to defined contribution schemes have soared since the introduction of pension freedoms in April 2015, as savers look to access their full retirement pot in one go, something they are unable to do with a DB scheme.
At the same time, the introduction of auto-enrolment in 2012 has seem millions more people join a defined contribution pension scheme.
