Transport for London (TfL) ploughed a total of £1.6bn into its workers' pensions from 2004 to 2011, and its contribution rates have risen by more than 50 per cent over the last seven years according to new figures.

Contributions rose from £156m in 2004 to £242m in 2011 in order to meet pension obligations within the fund. TfL has contributed 31 per cent of salary since 2009. The TfL Pension Fund offers typical pension provision for a DB scheme with a 1/60th accrual rate.

Responding to criticism surrounding the increase in level of contributions into the scheme, London’s Transport Commissioner Sir Peter Hendy said that TfL “has no current plans to change pension arrangements.”

“Legislation requires that it is valued every three years to ensure it can meet its obligations. Over the last two years our ongoing contributions per employee have been reduced by 13 per cent,” Hendy said.

Other public sector employers pay a fraction of what TfL does. Local government employers for example pay an 18.4 per cent contribution rate.

However, TfL argued that the accrual rate the TfL fund provides for its members is no different from most of the rest of the public sector.

“The contributions each organisation makes to a scheme for ongoing costs depends on assumptions each pension fund makes based on a range of factors including inflation, mortality and investment returns,” TfL said. “Two schemes with the same benefits will make different contributions dependent on those factors.”

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