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Department for Business response to European Commission state aid decision

Government Communications (NDS)

21 March 2012

“We will now put into action – through secondary legislation – our pension solution, taking on the historic liabilities and the bulk of the assets of the Royal Mail Pension Plan and establishing the new Royal Mail Statutory Pension Scheme. “Today’s decision does not mean that a sale of Royal Mail will happen overnight. We have always been clear that further modernisation by the company and a period of stability under a new regulatory framework, along with state aid approval, are needed before we can move forward with a sale. However, this decision is a fundamental step towards achieving that goal”Notes to editors:BIS's online newsroom contains the latest press notices, speeches, as well as video and images for download. It also features an up to date list of BIS press office contacts. See http://www.bis.gov.uk/newsroom for more information.