A TOY store faces an uncertain future after being told to put £9m into a struggling pension pot, it has been reported.
Toys ‘R’ Us has been warned by the Pension Protection Fund to come up with the cash by Thursday, so it can agree to a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), set out by the retailer to secure its future.
It has been claimed that a failure to agree a deal could put 3,200 staff at risk of redundancy.
The update comes just days after Toys ‘R’ Us unveiled proposals to revamp its store estate, which include replacing existing warehouse-style bases with “smaller, interactive stores” and ramping up online traffic.
However, shops on Teesside Retail Park, near Stockton, Gateshead and Sunderland were not on the retailer’s closure list.
Malcolm Weir, director of restructuring and insolvency at the PPF, said: "We continue to work closely with the trustees of the Toys 'R' Us pension scheme.
"The pension scheme is already underfunded and, if we were to vote in favour of the CVA, we would need actions taken that ensure the position of the pension scheme was not going to further weaken."
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