The current issue of Prospero contains a letter from John Burns, raising the possibility of damage to the pension scheme from the sale of BBC Technology.

He writes:  "You can't go on taking big slices of the Corporation away and assume that it won't affect the staff Pension Scheme.  There will be the loss of several thousand staff who presently contribute; if they go into an alternative pension scheme there will be a danger of a massive claim on the BBC Fund for a transfer valuation out of our scheme and into a privatised one."

In reply, James Hacker, Pensions Communication Manager, writes:

"I don't believe it will be significant.  On the sale of Technology, staff affected will leave the scheme.  One of the options staff will have is to transfer their scheme benefits to another pension arrangement, e.g. the new owner's scheme.

"The transfer payment represents the value of the pension benefits the person has built up in the scheme.  People don't get any more or less than they are entitled to....

"There are around 1,400 staff that will be affected by the sale and the majority, but not all, are members of the [BBC] scheme.  Whilst the numbers...are large they represent only 6 per cent of active members.... Also, I would expect only a proportion to elect to transfer their benefits.  

"Others will either preserve this pension in the Scheme, or those over 50 can elect to have their pension immediately, reduced for early payment.

"Staff will also be able to join the new owner's pension arrangement and the BBC has stated that future pension arrangements will be an important issue during the commercial negotiations.