# Pensions

### How costly are unfunded public sector defined benefit pensions?
The question looms large in the economic future of the UK.

### BP’s pension scheme
BP’s pension scheme was once a leading stakeholder in UK companies, but now it’s been ‘de-risked’ and may soon be hived off to an insurer. The story encapsulates the slow decline of Britain’s private sector defined benefit pension system.

### QE and corporate pension liabilities
QE has driven corporate pension liabilities sky-high, and MPs are considering softening inflation-linked promises amid complaints over generational inequality. But British companies’ ever-increasing dividends makes such a move politically tricky.

### Pension policy and Britain’s steel industry
How pension policy cowardice helped doom Britain’s steel industry. Tata’s decision to write off the value of its UK steelmaking business and seek a quick sale, while keeping its Dutch business, is really a story about pension regulation.

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