On the go: Reach, the publisher of the Daily Mirror and Daily Express, has requested discussions with the regulator around a deferment of current deficit recovery contributions.
The announcement was made on Monday by the company, which is also introducing a pay reduction of 20 per cent for all members of its board, along with some members of its most senior editorial and management team.
Reach will also initiate talks about a 10 per cent pay reduction for all employees, and for 20 per cent of the staff to be furloughed under the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme in the UK and the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme in Ireland.
“The board has agreed that all stakeholder groups should be asked to contribute to ensuring the company is in as strong a position as it can be, and as a result the company has requested discussions around a deferment of current contributions to all the group pension funds,” Reach stated.
At the end of March, the Pensions Regulator launched new guidance aimed at helping employers freeze their defined benefit obligations for three months in response to the economic fallout from coronavirus.
However, it stated that suspensions should not be longer than three months without trustees receiving concrete evidence that the restructuring is necessary and being applied to other creditors and stakeholders.
According to its 2019 annual report, Reach has six DB schemes with an IAS 19 deficit of £295.9m. The publisher has agreed contributions of £48.9m for 2020, £56.1m per year for 2021-23, £55.3m per year for 2024-26 and £53.3m for 2027.
