Sir Philip Green to receive £15 million refund from his BHS pension payment

Sir Philip Green is in line to receive a £15m refund from his BHS pension settlement.

After the British department store chain went bankrupt, Sir Philip reached a £363m pound settlement with The Pensions Regulator (TPR) to fund a pension deficit.

He could now receive a substantial refund if 90 per cent of people choose to take a lump-sum from BHS.

In addition to this, it has been revealed that under the new scheme some pensioners will receive less than 80 per cent of what they would have done beforehand.

Sir Philip’s out-of-court settlement benefits a small number of the highest paid former managers the most.

Sixteen executives at the firm will receive the most after the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) cap was removed as part of the settlement.

The cap exists to incentivise the highest paid executives, with the largest pension benefits, to take care of the fund and prevent it falling into the PPF.

If the BHS scheme had gone into the PPF then members would have received, on average, 69 per cent of promised benefits.

Frank Field MP, Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, said: “I hope Sir Philip will recycle any refund back into the scheme as BHS pensioners will still be facing cuts in the benefits for which they paid.

“It is also clear that Sir Philip prioritised his loyal senior managers, who have had the PPF cap on high pension benefits completely removed. That measure was designed to encourage those in positions of influence to urge prudence and responsibility.

“I would be worried if TPR was content to see it jettisoned as a matter of course. Those who do far less well out of the settlement are the ordinary staff of working age, many of whom lost will have lost their jobs as well.

“HMRC will not tell us what the tax implications of this settlement are but I fervently hope the public purse will not be missing out in the same way it does by the Greens’ complex offshore business arrangements,” he said.