The Wedgwood Pension Plan Trustee Limited (WPPTL), which was set up to manage the Wedgwood Group Pension Plan, has told the Wedgwood Museum Trust that it intends to force it into insolvency.
The move would allow the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) to step in and guarantee payments to the pension plan’s 7,500 members.
It was expected that the pension scheme would be taken over by the PPF last year, when Wedgwood went into administration. But the fund cannot legally accept the plan because the Wedgwood Museum is solvent.
The trust’s chairman, George Stonier, said: “We are very disappointed that the Wedgwood Group Pension Plan is to pursue this course of action, but are determined to do everything that we can to preserve our museum.”
The pension shortfall, which affects former staff of Wedgwood Limited, Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Limited, and Stuart and Sons Limited, is estimated to be £134m.
The WPPTL has indicated that it may try to force the sale of the museum’s collections, the trust’s only asset.
But a trust spokesman said: “Our lawyers have expressed the view that the museum’s collections form part of the trust’s permanent endowment and can’t be sold to reduce the pension shortfall. The size of the shortfall is such that even if the collections could be sold, this would not prevent the pension plan entering the Pension Protection Fund.
“In other words, the sale of the collection would not mean an extra penny in the pensions payable to members of the pension plan.”
Museums Journal understands that in January, £200,000 of the Renaissance in the Regions underspend was allocated to the trust to help it meet its costs, while the legal case is established.
The move would allow the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) to step in and guarantee payments to the pension plan’s 7,500 members.
It was expected that the pension scheme would be taken over by the PPF last year, when Wedgwood went into administration. But the fund cannot legally accept the plan because the Wedgwood Museum is solvent.
The trust’s chairman, George Stonier, said: “We are very disappointed that the Wedgwood Group Pension Plan is to pursue this course of action, but are determined to do everything that we can to preserve our museum.”
The pension shortfall, which affects former staff of Wedgwood Limited, Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Limited, and Stuart and Sons Limited, is estimated to be £134m.
The WPPTL has indicated that it may try to force the sale of the museum’s collections, the trust’s only asset.
But a trust spokesman said: “Our lawyers have expressed the view that the museum’s collections form part of the trust’s permanent endowment and can’t be sold to reduce the pension shortfall. The size of the shortfall is such that even if the collections could be sold, this would not prevent the pension plan entering the Pension Protection Fund.
“In other words, the sale of the collection would not mean an extra penny in the pensions payable to members of the pension plan.”
Museums Journal understands that in January, £200,000 of the Renaissance in the Regions underspend was allocated to the trust to help it meet its costs, while the legal case is established.