BBC pension trustee frustrated by changes

Jeremy Peat, the chairman of the BBC pension trustees, has said that he felt "frustrated and relatively powerless" over the controversial changes to the corporation's pension scheme.

At a meeting earlier in the week, around 1,100 BBC staff signed up to a motion calling on the trustees to take action on the proposed pension cutbacks.

The motion said: "This meeting of members of the BBC pension scheme calls on the trustees to perform their duties to protect the benefits of the members. Specifically we call on them to oppose the BBC's plan to reduce the eventual value of contributions already made to the scheme."

Speaking at the meeting, Peat - also a member of the BBC Trust - admitted that the trustees "could have and should have spoken out earlier" on the matter, reports The Guardian.

However, he added that the trustees "honestly believe it would not have made any difference given the direction the BBC chose to go".

BBC staff recently voted for industrial action over BBC management proposals to drastically reduce the final salary pension scheme to tackle its approximate £2 billion deficit.

Strikes are now scheduled for October 5-6 and October 19-20 to disrupt the corporation's coverage of the Tory Party conference and the government's spending review respectively.

The trustees were understood to have received limited warning about the proposals, which Peat claims that they would have probably rejected.

He also revealed that the idea of using BBC Worldwide and BBC Television Centre as asset backing for an equity bond to reduce the pension deficit has now reached a dead end.

Next week, the trustees will meet with BBC director general Mark Thompson, chief finance officer Zarin Patel and BBC People boss Lucy Adams to discuss the pension proposals.

The broadcasting unions are currently consulting with their members on the BBC's pension concessions, before holding a joint meeting on October 1 to decide whether to go ahead with the strike action.