Bosses rapped on pensions divide

Top company directors are building up luxury nest eggs, says the TUC

Top company directors retiring early on full pensions should not "lecture" ordinary employees on working longer for less, the TUC has said.

The comments came as a TUC report found most top company director pensions are worth an average of 26 times that of the average UK employee.

The TUC examined annual reports at more than 50 of the UK's biggest firms.

But the CBI shrugged off the TUC's attack saying it had "every right" to comment on the pensions issue.

"Britain's businesses have every right to comment on how the billions of pounds of tax levied on them each year is spent," a CBI spokesman said.

"That includes the issue of pensions, which has massive implications for future public spending. And if taxes go up, the economy suffers - with job losses and lower incomes for ordinary workers."

Early retirement

The majority of pensions (98%) for directors at top UK firms paid out in full when the bosses hit 60, the TUC found after analysing annual reports from more than 50 leading UK firms.

Britain's boardrooms are secure in a pensions ivory tower Brendan Barber, TUC How the crisis evolved Solving the pensions problem

Such directors are likely to see their pensions increase at twice the rate of the average employee, it added.

These directors have amassed pensions worth £900m, the report said, adding that if they decided to claim their pensions now they would be paid £167,000 a year - more than 26 times the national average of £6,344.

Furthermore, in four out of five cases directors could retire at 60 without their pensions being reduced.

The findings were issued as a separate GMB study found business chiefs who chair CBI committees had annual salaries of £146,000 to £2.3m and huge pensions.

Pensions 'gap'

"Britain's boardrooms are secure in a pensions ivory tower," TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said.

"Top bosses can expect to live long retirements on luxury pensions that are far more generous than their employees can expect.

"They should stop lecturing the rest of us on how we should get smaller pensions from a higher retirement age. After these revelations it is hard to see how their voice can carry much weight in the pensions debate," he added.

The GMB also warned the government against "making a fatal mistake listening to the plutocrats who run the CBI" as it considers the current pensions crisis.

It argued that leading businessmen earning huge salaries and luxury pensions were in no position to lecture employees about pay restraint and later retirement.