Thomas Cook trustees plot to salvage pension payouts
Thomas Cook’s pension funds have kicked off talks with specialist insurers about a deal to salvage the collapsed travel group’s retirement scheme benefits.Sky News has learnt that Steve Southern, chair of the trustees, is holding talks with several parties about a buyout deal that would avoid most of Thomas Cook's 14,000 pension scheme members facing a steep cut to their payments. Any deal with an insurer would be likely to involve a more modest cut to payouts than the 10% triggered by a pension scheme's transfer into the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) lifeboat.The discussions are at a very preliminary stage and - even if successful - will not result in a deal until after the Thomas Cook schemes have been through an assessment by the PPF. ...
