Sir Philip Green to resolve BHS pension scheme “mess”

Sir Philip Green, the former owner of BHS, has said he plans to resolve the pensions “mess” that followed the department store chain’s collapse in May.

Speaking to MPs this week, the retail magnate said his advisors are now working to find a “resolvable and sortable” solution for the thousands of members of the BHS scheme.

Sir Philip said he will sit down with the pensions regulator and give his “best shot” at resolving the issue.

According to the BBC, he also said retailer Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley offered to buy BHS and keep its stores operational until Christmas, and that while he himself had offered to plough “a few million” into the deal, the amount was still not enough to rescue the floundering department store business.

Now, the BHS scheme is in the Pension Protection Fund, a lifeboat programme set up to help finance pensions when firms go bust, which means its 20k members will receive less than initially expected.

The new plan being drawn up by professional services giant Deloitte, Sir Philip said, will provide BHS pensioners with a “better outcome” than the compensation from the Pension Protection Fund.

The billionaire businessman’s most recent meeting with MPs followslast month’s broadside against the politicians investigating the collapse of BHS, when he called their accusations “inaccurate and misleading”.