Pensions row at publisher

The new owner of Johnston Press, who saved it after it fell into administration, has been accused of ‘dumping’ responsibility for staff pension schemes.

The regional newspaper publisher, which owns titles including the i, Yorkshire Post and The Scotsman, was rescued by creditors through newly formed company JPI Media over the weekend, in a controversial pre-pack administration deal.

It means that 250 current staff and 5,000 former employees who are enrolled in Johnston Press’s defined benefit scheme will be transferred to the Pension Protection Fund – the pensions lifeboat for failed firms.

In a note to staff, David King, chief executive of Johnston Press, said the sale to JPI Media was the ‘best available solution’.

But in a letter to The Pensions Regulator last night, Frank Field MP, chairman of the Commons work and pensions committee, criticised the new owners for failing to take responsibility for employees’ retirement.

‘It would be helpful to have an explanation of why it was not possible to find a solution that would have avoided the pension scheme entering the PPF,’ he said. ‘It is difficult to understand why it is possible for JPI Media to acquire the business, no doubt in the expectation of generating a profit from it, but without taking any responsibility for its pension scheme.’

Meanwhile, Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright was accused by Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson of ignoring an ‘inevitable crisis in local news’ caused by the deal. ‘After 134 days in post he needs to stop sleeping on the job,’ Watson said.