19-05-2025
Taxpayers forced to pay £300m to bail out train driver gold-plated pensions
Taxpayers have handed at least £300m to retired train drivers because a government-backed pension scheme cannot afford its payments, The Telegraph can reveal.
The Railways Pension Scheme received an average of £19m a year in top-up payments between 2008 and 2023, funded directly by the Department for Transport.
However, the scheme refused to divulge how much public money it received between 1994 and 2007, while the Department for Transport admitted it did not know how much was handed over.
The Government guarantees the pensions promised before privatisation in 1994, but John Ralfe, a pensions consultant, said it was not being transparent, and warned that taxpayers were on the hook for almost £500m more.
He said: 'As well as sorting out the operational mess of railways, the Government must sort out the mess of railway pensions.'
