Pension Lifeboat Picks New Head Amid BHS Crisis

Britain's pensions lifeboat will name a new chairman on Thursday as it attempts to safeguard the interests of tens of thousands of members of the BHS and British Steel retirement schemes.

Sky News has learnt that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will announce that it has picked one of its existing board members to replace Lady Judge, who is stepping down after six years at the helm.

The new chairman is understood to be Arnold Wagner, a former human resources director at companies including Bunzl (LSE: BNZL.L - news) and Smiths Group (Other OTC: SMGKF - news) .

Mr Wagner, who joined the PPF's board in 2011, has also served as a non-executive director at the UK Atomic Energy Authority.

His biography on the PPF website describes him as having "a strong interest in pensions, including defined benefit pension schemes".

Whitehall sources suggested that ministers had elected to appoint an existing PPF board member to the chairmanship partly to ensure continuity at a moment of great significance for the pensions safety net.

The PPF, which is led by Alan Rubenstein, its highly regarded chief executive, plays a critical role in Britain's economy, guaranteeing that employees of companies which fail continue to receive the vast majority of their pension entitlements.

Its stewardship under Lady Judge, a respected and prolific non-executive who also chairs the Institute of Directors, and Mr Rubenstein has seen it deliver strong investment returns, enabling the PPF to accumulate a large surplus.

In recent months, it has been thrust firmly into the spotlight by the twin crises at BHS and Tata Steel (BSE: TATASTEEL.BO - news) .

Mr Rubenstein and his executives have given evidence to MPs investigating the collapse of BHS and the circumstances surrounding the escalating deficit in its pension schemes.

Sir Philip Green, BHS's former owner, has promised to "sort" the problem, with a solution expected to cost him several hundred million pounds.

At Tata Steel, the PPF is expected to assume responsibility for paying pensions to thousands of steelworkers, with hopes of a rescue deal for the Indian-owned business understood to be diminishing.

The lifeboat has objected to Government plans for a restructuring of the British Steel scheme which would involve cutting members' benefits as a result of what ministers vowed would be "one-off" legislation.

The PPF said the proposal contained "significant risks for relatively limited gains".

"The majority of members would receive roughly the same as they would in the PPF and a minority would be worse off," it said.

"The number that are worse off could grow, depending on the early retirement and lump sum commutation factors the scheme intends to use."

The DWP and PPF declined to comment on Wednesday.