The collapse of Visit London and its impact on the pensions of 39 former staff members is to be investigated by the London Assembly.
Visit London, the capital’s former promotional and tourism agency, was placed into administration on 1 April this year following the establishment of successor body London & Partners which merged the responsibilities of Visit London, Think London and Study London into a single body.
The merger followed the slashing of the Mayor’s development budget as part of Government spending cuts.
Although staff transferred from Visit London to London & Partners, the new body has not taken on the pension liabilities for them.
This resulted in Visit London going into administration since it did not have an estimated £7m needed to wind up the pension scheme.
Staff now find themselves potentially reliant on the Pension Protection Fund which pays compensation “where there are insufficient assets in the pension scheme.”
Dee Doocey AM, Chair of the Assembly’s Economy, Culture and Sport Committee said: “Scrutinising the Mayor’s promotional agencies is a core part of the Assembly’s remit and questions remain about the way Visit London went into administration.
“In particular we aim to shed more light on the way decisions were made at London & Partners that led to the collapse of Visit London and the consequences for pension holders and creditors.”
