More than half of the biggest companies in Britain paid dividends to their shareholders at least equal to their pension scheme deficits.

Some of the biggest paid investors more than the size of their retirement fund shortfall.

The analysis raises questions about boardroom priorities as companies put investors’ interests ahead of their employees.

It also emerges on the day that former BHS owner Sir Philip Green faces MPs to answer questions over the collapse of the retail chain and why he allowed the company’s pension deficit to balloon to £600 million while paying his wife hundreds of millions in dividends.

Research by investment company AJ Bell shows that 54 of the FTSE100 companies paid out £48 billion in dividends in each of the past two years, almost equal to the £52bn total deficit in their pension schemes.

They include 35 which paid out more in dividends than their pension deficit. Eight of the 20 companies with the largest pension deficits paid out more in dividends than their deficit.

The firm said the analysis raises questions over whether public companies have got the right balance between shareholder payouts and funding for their staff pension schemes.

*The analysis compares data published by Lane Clark & Peacock on FTSE 100 deficits taken from 2014 full-year accounts with dividend data sourced by AJ Bell from Digital Look.  The analysis covers firms that were members of the FTSE 100 in 2014 and remain members today.

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