Thursday, September 05, 2013

Pensions for the rich cats

Frank Chapman, the former boss of oil and gas company BG Group, is revealed as the richest pensioner in the FTSE 100 with a pot worth more than £22m when he stepped down. The transfer value of Sir Frank’s pension holdings is the highest uncovered by this year’s TUC Pension Watch survey, which shows that the average pot of FTSE 100 bosses has surged to £4.75m.

Their average accrued annual pension stands at £259,947 – 25 times the average employee’s of £10,452 a year.

 David Brennan, who last year quit AstraZeneca amid investor anger over the group’s performance, will enjoy much more with an annual £1m retirement income from his pension arrangements.

FTSE 100 companies contributed around 25 per cent of their salary into directors gold-plated final salary scheme. This is nearly four times the size of the average employer contribution rate of 6 per cent into far less lucrative defined contribution pensions now in place for much of the workforce, where contributions are fixed and returns subject to the vagaries of the stock market. Directors are usually also able to retire at 60, compared to the 65 – and rising – average retirement age of the wider workforce.

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