The guardians of BT’s pension scheme are weighing up taking the Government to court for clarification of a controversial £28 billion “Crown guarantee” on the fund after the telecoms company reported a bumper set of full-year figures.

Sir Tim Chessells, chairman of the BT pension scheme trustees, said that it is “possible that there are circumstances in which the trustees may decide to test the matter in the courts”.

However, he was “happy with the progress being made” over the guarantee, which was proferred when BT was privatised but whose existence emerged only last year.

Sir Tim’s comments came after Sir Christopher Bland, the company’s retiring chairman, capped a successful six-year tenure with a bumper £2.5 billion share buyback and a 27 per cent increase in its dividend.

The resurgence of the formerly indebted operator was further underlined by its success in toppling Virgin Media from its top spot in the consumer broadband market. BT now has a 26.5 per cent share of total UK broadband connections, including cable.

Sir Christopher, who received a standing ovation from analysts, said that the group had showed “resilience” in the face of fierce competition and technological advances.

BT, which also disclosed yesterday that its pension fund had a £1 billion surplus at the end of April, played down the significance of the guarantee.

Sir Christopher said that it was “not on his radar”, but Sir Tim said that the pension fund guardians had a “slightly different position from that of the company”.

Industry sources said that the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), which at one stage looked to be wriggling out of the pledge, had become more accommodating to BT.

Discussions between government officials and the telecoms group are now said to centre on the guarantee’s scope – which BT says covers three quarters of its liabilites in the event that it goes bust – rather than its existence.

The DTI said that it could not comment further at this stage.

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