Directors ‘have £891m pensions’

The report could lead to more “fat cat bosses” claims

Directors of the UK’s top companies have amassed pensions worth £891m, according to a report by the Trades Union Congress (TUC).The average company executive can now retire at 60 on a final salary pension worth more than £3m, says the TUC’s latest annual PensionsWatch survey.

This works out at £193,000 a year, says the study, more than 25 times the average UK pension of £7,500 a year.

Over the last year, directors’ pensions have increased 15%, the TUC adds.

‘Super-rich’

The biggest executive pensions are now worth £320,000 a year, more than 42 times average staff pensions, the report alleges.

One pension was found to be worth more than £1m a year, it says.

“Top executive pay has already created a new group of the super-rich who float free from the rest of society,” said TUC general secretary Brendan Barber.

“This report shows that this does not stop with their retirement.

“Too many top directors have gone on closing or cutting schemes for their workforce, while keeping gold-plated pensions for themselves.”

The TUC study looked at members of the FTSE 100 index of the UK’s 100 largest listed companies and other big employers.