Film Star Pensions

The BBC's director general - Mark Thompson - is to leave the coporation later this year after an eight year stint - the longest in the Beeb's history apparently.

Now this provides the perfect illustration as to why final salary pension schemes are so ridiculous - and are designed to help the higher paid.

Because whenever Mark Thompson retires his future pension and tax free lump sum - will be calculated on his final salary of £671,000 a year.

A figure that will exclude his employer's pension contributions of course.

Despite the fact that he will have earned such a high salary - for only a very short part of his working life.

So as I've said many times on the blog site - the rules of final salary pension scheems are explicitly designed to favour the better off.

The higher a person's salary - the greater the subsidy from the public purse.

Now I've nothing against Mark Thmpson - the outgoing Director Genereal is probably very hard working and an extremely nice chap.

But that doesn't mean that his pension should be subsidised by everybody else - including all the lower paid staff at the BBC.

No far better and fairer that pensions are calculated on an career average basis.

Because then - broadly speaking - everyone gets out what they pay in.