Sir Philip Greed to cough up
MP’s pledge: Fight goes on
SIR Philip Green has paid £363million to settle the pension schemes of collapsed High Street retailer BHS.
The Topshop tycoon finally forked out after months of public pressure and outrage.
CAMPAIGNERS last night hit out at former BHS boss Sir Philip Green’s £363million pay-out to workers who lost pensions when the High Street store collapsed.
Critics say the amount – £208m less than the £571m pension black hole – is “too little, too late”. Sir Philip’s chief tormenter, Labour MP Frank Field vowed the fight did not “end here”. Mr Field, who co-chaired a parliamentary inquiry into the demise of BHS, said: “I think there are a lot of other issues which are not solved which we will obviously be looking at and the courts and everybody else will be. “It’s not justice, but it’s a milestone.” The billionaire Topshop tycoon agreed to the pay-out after months of public outrage and pressure. He said the amount was “significantly better” for employees than if they had been compensated by the Pension Protection Fund. But former coalition Pensions Minister Steve Webb said Sir Philip could have spared staff “many months of misery and uncertainty” if he had stumped up the cash earlier. BHS collapsed in April after Sir Philip sold it for just £1 to three-time bankrupt businessman Dominic Chappell. More than 11,000 jobs and 19,000 pension holders were impacted when the retail giant crumbled. The fallout sparked a parliamentary inquiry in which MPs backed a non-binding motion to strip Sir Philip of his knighthood. Sir Philip said: “Once again I would like to apologise to the BHS pensioners for this last year of uncertainty, which was clearly never the intention when the business was sold.”