Royal Mail has discovered a £10bn black hole in its pension fund, the postal service’s chief executive Adam Crozier has admitted.
The pension deficit is the biggest in UK corporate history, eclipsing BT’s £9bn black hole, and British Airways’ liability of nearly £3bn.
Crozier said: “The pension plan deficit is widely expected to increase from its £3.4bn deficit three years ago to at least £10bn, and we are exploring with the trustees ways of addressing this legacy deficit.”
The news of the pensions deficit at Royal Mail came as the postal service reported a 4% increase in operating profits to £184m in the first six months of the year.
Crozier added the profits did not mean plans for modernising the postal service should no longer be a priority, the Guardian reported.
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He said: “Change is difficult for everyone, but Royal Mail has no alternative but to change and modernise if it is to compete in today’s highly competitive communications market and keep on delivering the postal service on which so many depend.”
The modernisation plans sparked a wave of strikes by postal workers in the Autumn.
