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All public bodies (i.e. those funded out of taxation) have an 'unfunded pension' liability because those pensions are a future charge on the public purse, not paid for by putting current money into the stock market. The taxpayer 'picks up the tab' in any case. The question here is simply whether the public body is entitled to discriminate between categories of employees and/or change the contractual terms on which persons were engaged retrospectively.
Philip Green bought BHS for £200m in 2000, but the firm performed poorly so he sold it for just £1 in 2015. By April 2016 BHS had debts of £1.3bn, including a pensions deficit of £571m. Despite the deficit of £571m, Green and his family collected £586m in dividends, rental payments and interest on loans during their 15-year ownership of the retailer. Referring to the conduct of Green, Angela Eagle, the shadow business secretary, said: "In this situation it appears this owner extracted hundreds of millions of pounds from the business and walked away to his favourite tax haven, leaving the Pension Protection Scheme to pick up the bill." Not exactly the same situation.