The collapse of BHS into administration left 11,000 employees facing an uncertain future and 20,000 current and future pensioners facing substantial cuts to their entitlements. According to the Work and Pensions Select Committee, BHS encapsulates many of its ongoing concerns about the regulatory and cultural framework in which business operates, including the ethics of business behaviour, the governance of private companies, the balance between risk and reward, mergers and acquisitions practices, the governance and regulation of workplace pension schemes, and the sustainability of defined benefit pensions.   

I want to briefly consider 3 aspects of the law as they relate to BHS: (1) Remedying the pension deficit; (2) The dividends and the deficit; (3) The Directors’ duties and the degree of regard to the position of employees and pensioners. Read more »