BA ends legal fight with pension trustees

BA has agreed to end a long-running court battle with the trustees of one of its pension funds over increases in payments to retired workers. The IAG-owned airline and the trustees have been embroiled in a legal dispute since 2013 over a decision to award a 0.2% discretionary increase to members of the scheme — which amounted to half the difference between the retail price index and the consumer price index. The trustees of the Airways Pension Scheme, which has 24,196 members, amended the plan’s rules in 2013 to give themselves the power to grant discretionary pension increases to retirees. Their decision was prompted by moves by the 2010 coalition government to link pension rises for retired public-sector workers to the CPI rather than the RPI, which is seen as a more generous measure of inflation. The government decision also applied to private-sector pension schemes. It resulted in a long court battle between BA and the trustees which raised important legal questions, such as the extent of pension trustee powers. BA won the case in the Court of Appeal last year and the latest round of the dispute was due to be heard by the Supreme Court in July. On Tuesday the trustee directors announced that they had unanimously agreed terms for a proposed out-of-court settlement with BA, bringing the legal action to an end. The proposed settlement still needs to be approved by the High Court.<br/>