Feb 20 2009

20 February 2009

Pension Scheme Changes – Response from Community

Members of the non-stakeholder pension scheme will have received the email from Ian Chivers concerning the proposal to close the Pension Scheme to the build up of any future benefits.

What the email did not make clear is that, at this stage, this is just a proposal. There must be a period of consultation with the affected members of the scheme and their representatives. We have written to Liz Booth to remind agency management about their duties to consult on these changes, as this was unclear in the email that you received.

Community has asked its own pensions expert to look at the proposals and to report back with alternatives, where appropriate.

The consultation is a difficult process - Community has seen this situation many times before and the outcome cannot be certain. What we do know from our experience is that we had most success when we had strong union membership. So if you have colleagues that are not members, now is the time to encourage them to join.

I am sure many of you will have concerns about how this might affect your pension and we are concerned at the timing of this announcement in the middle of a redundancy process. Although the Union cannot give financial advice as we are not legally permitted to do so, we will communicate with you regularly throughout the consultation process about our discussions with the agency and the implications of the proposals.

Please feel free to forward this message to non-members. They can join straightaway over the phone (0800 389 6332) or online here:

http://www.community-tu.org/information/100386/joinpage/

Yours faithfully,
Joe Mann MBE
Deputy General Secretary