Pension trustees wait for court to decide what happens if BT goes bust
Pension trustees at BT were last night awaiting a High Court ruling over how much of the telecom giant’s liabilities would be guaranteed by the state if it were to collapse.
The former state telecoms monopoly was given a guarantee when it was privatised in 1984 that the government would back its pension scheme in the event that the group became insolvent.
One area of contention is whether members who joined after privatisation would be covered.
BT pension trustees reported last month the deficit is now valued at £7.6bn, a reduction of £1.4bn from the previous year.
Earlier this year BT agreed with its pension fund trustees the deficit would be paid off over 17 years. It will pay £525m for three years, rising to £583m thereafter, with payments increasing three per cent a year.
This will not be affected by the court ruling, which BT says is simply to clarify the mater for trustees.
Meanwhile, BT Global Services won a $220m (£144m) extension to provide technology services to consumer products giant Unilever.
The original contract, announced in November 2002 and worth around €1bn (£835m) was the first global outsourcing contract undertaken by BT.
Jeff Kelly, chief executive of BT Global Services, said: “We are delighted that Unilever has chosen to extend its contract with BT.”