This story appeared in The Guardian on December 22:

BBC pension contributions to soar

by Tara Conlan

The BBC and its staff face a hike in pension contributions to help fund an estimated £100m shortfall in the scheme's finances.

The move comes after the corporation had its pension fund valued, the results of which have not yet been made public.

Sources said the BBC is facing a "large bill" and both staff contributions, and those of the corporation, will have to increase.

In recent years the BBC has taken a partial contributions holiday, but that will have to change.

One estimate puts the BBC's contribution rising from the 6% of staff salaries it pays now, to around 18%.

"The BBC is going to have to start paying £100m a year or so into the scheme, once the actuary says the surplus has run out. At that point, the huge obligation of the BBC to make contributions kicks in," one insider said.

Experts estimate that to close the scheme, the BBC would probably need to put in between £1bn and £1.5bn into the fund in one go, which is prohibitively expensive.

In 2002, the BBC told employees that in the poor pensions climate contributions would have to rise.

Staff currently pay around 5.5% and this figure is due to go up another 0.5% in April.

But the corporation is now turning its attention to the long-term costs of the scheme.

The BBC has already told staff it is considering the future of its pension fund and a number of options have been discussed behind the scenes and with unions.

A BBC spokeswoman said: "In 2002, we said both BBC and staff would have to increase contributions. We said at that time we would revisit it in light of the 2005 pension valuation. The result is not published yet, we expect it imminently. We've said we'll look at it again."

Although the corporation is understood to have ruled out closing its final salary pension scheme to new members - as the benefit is cited by many BBC staff as one of the main reasons they join - the overly generous corporation pension is likely to be a thing of the past.

A number of companies are facing questions on the future of their pension funds. Earlier this week Rentokil made the groundbreaking move of closing its final salary pension scheme to current employees.