NSPCC Staff

Community is the dedicated union for NSPCC staff

Community - The union for the NSPCC

Friday June 12th 2009

Following our e-mail communication on Monday 8th June, please find below notes and outcomes of the meeting between Community and NSPCC regarding closure of your Non-Contributory and Contributory Final Salary Pension Schemes.

It is important to note that this meeting was regarding outcomes of consultations conducted by both parties (Community and NSPCC) to gauge opinions on the closure and not to open negotiations about the proposal. As contained within these notes Community will be formulating a counter proposal and circulate this to members before the next meeting with NSPCC on June 22nd.

It is important that we know which of our members participate in what scheme. Many of you have already e-mailed us to let us know and we’d like to thank you for that. However, if you haven’t contacted us, it is important to let us know. Please e-mail nspcc@community-tu.org or telephone 01562 749173 and leave a message on our automated system stating your name, date of birth and the pension scheme that you participate in.

In Unity,

The Community Team

 

MEETING BETWEEN COMMUNITY AND NSPCC 11TH June 09

PENSION CLOSURE PROPOSAL

Present: Ian Chivers (NSPCC Director of Finance), Phil Horrobin (NSPCC Employment Relations Adviser), Sean Redgate (Community Officer), Bryn Davies (Community Actuary), Lesley-Anne Ure (Community Officer), Steve Landy (Community Member representing NSPCC staff).

NSPCC management seem confused about the consultation process. This meeting was held so that NSPCC and Community could examine the evidence provided by speaking to the affected employees. While Community was able to produce charts, tables and graphs from the Pensions survey that we have conducted, NSPCC management provided only anecdotal evidence based on the opinions of the Director of Finance. NSPCC stated that “most pension members were resigned to the closure of the current Final Salary Scheme”.

Community does not believe that relying upon anecdotal evidence is sufficient, when taking a decision that will substantially affect a large number of employees.

In terms of consultation, NSPCC informed Community that they had conducted 8 “roadshows” across the country. NSPCC included interviews between individual members of the at-risk pension schemes and Barclays Financial Advisers. Community Reps stressed that such interviews should not be considered part of a meaningful consultation as they were confidential conversations about peoples’ futures and potential entry to a stakeholder scheme provided by Barclays (almost a sales pitch). Community further stressed that these 1-to-1 talks should have focussed on the individuals’ opinions on the closure of the current schemes not to pressgang people into a stakeholder scheme.

NSPCC stated that legal advice had been taken regarding potential breach of contract for many staff in the Non-Contributory Scheme, should it close to accrual, stating that this situation does not present a breach of contract. Community’s legal advice believes that closing the scheme to accrual will be a breach of contract.

Community Reps strongly urged NSPCC to bear in mind the damage the proposed closure is doing to staff morale, staff worth and staff’s sense of security. Community Reps also clearly stated that this situation affects longer-serving, and therefore, more experienced staff and could actively force valuable experience out of NSPCC as opposed to attracting it.

During the meeting it transpired that one of the prime drivers behind the Society’s pension proposals is not only related to the current financial position but also a move to unburden itself of any future risk that a good quality pension scheme may incur. Community Reps pointed out that a dutiful employer undertakes that risk as the Society has, up until now. Particularly as NSPCC staff face untold risks themselves simply by performing their job role and meeting their contractual obligations.

As NSPCC failed to provide current figures, and only referred to “ball-park figures”, it was agreed that Community Actuary, Bryn Davies, would liaise with NSPCC actuaries to formulate figures and potentially a counter-proposal. This counter-proposal will be discussed when all parties meet again (June 22nd ’09).

NSPCC expected Community to provide a counter-proposal at today’s meeting (11th June ’09). This was never the case. Today’s meeting was set to discuss findings from consultations conducted by both parties. Disappointingly, NSPCC had not changed their proposal following their consultation. Community, in good faith, attended the meeting to express the views of our members. Community members clearly expressed their views in our survey. The overwhelming position of Community members is to consult on options available to maintain the present pension schemes.

Community regularly posts updates on our website: www.community-tu.org/

For help with an individual issue, call our Member Service Centre: 0800 389 6332

To discuss the NSPCC Pensions issue email: nspcc@community-tu.org

Or call our organisers

Lesley-Anne Ure 07710 709 938

Dean Apps 07834 745 816

COMMUNITY UNION PENSION UPDATE 8th JUNE ‘09

END OF PENSION CONSULTATION PERIOD

You will be aware that NSPCC management initiated a statutory 60 day consultation to close Final Salary Pensions to accrual of further benefits. This consultation closed today.

During this period Community, after taking advice from our own Pension’s expert has undertaken a consultation with our members on this subject. Our expert came up with three options for members to consider. There has been an overwhelming response in favour of option 1, which was to keep the pension open but to increase contributions from members of the scheme.

On Thursday 11th June, a team of Community representatives will meet with NSPCC management to discuss the outcomes of the consultation so that both sides can present their findings. The Community team will consist of full-time officials and member representatives from Community.

Further to this, Community has taken legal advice regarding the contractual position of members within the NON-CONTRIBUTORY SCHEME. We will be releasing this advice to members on Thursday by post and e-mail.

No matter what pension scheme you are part of please e-mail us on nspcc@community-tu.org in order that we can complete a count of union members in each scheme.

We understand that times are uncertain for everyone concerned and will be regularly updating members as talks continue.

NSPCC Pensions Update

Welcome to the latest update.

NSPCC Community members Pension training

Community members at the NSPCC have rightly raised many questions about the proposed changes to their pension scheme. That’s why Community organised for several members to participate in a General Federation of Trade Unions one-day pension seminar. This seminar covered the fundamentals of pensions and enabled these members to put questions on your behalf at the pension roadshows currently being run across the NSPCC.

At a roadshow last week questions were put to NSPCC finance officer Ian Chivers. The meeting was dominated by the refusal of management to consider any alternatives to their proposed course of action.

One NSPCC employee and Community member, who wishes to remain anonymous, wrote:

"The more I find out about this, the more I realise how questionable are the reasons given by management for closing the scheme and the more I come to believe that this is an opportunistic attack on conditions of service for a large number of NSPCC staff, which our new private sector-style management will pursue into other areas over the coming months. The only way in which this can be resisted is by people joining the union and becoming active."

During the meeting, Mr Chivers announced that ‘the union had failed to make contact’. THIS IS FALSE.

Community has maintained throughout this process that it will meet directly with management once Community has finished consulting members on potential changes to the pension scheme. However, Community has had many conversations with management regarding the process of consultation, including potentially extending the consultation period. These points have been acknowledged by management and Ian Chivers is aware of this.

The NSPCC are adopting a heavy handed approach to consultation, whereby the legitimate concerns of employees are steamrollered by the magnitude of the financial crisis. The NSPCC have used this excuse to drive their changes while refusing to wait for exact details in a pension valuation. The NSPCC is taking advantage of this recession to try to wash their hands of their responsibilities to you, the employee. While the financial downturn has directly impacted on the viability of the pension scheme, the answer is not simply to transfer the risk to staff.

Community Union will continue to raise these issues with NSPCC management, however, we need your support. If you haven’t completed our survey, please follow the link on our homepage http://www.community-tu.org/ or go directly there by clicking here.

If you have completed this survey, consider forwarding this email to your colleagues and asking them to complete the survey. The stronger the feedback, the stronger the argument that Community can make in defence of your terms and conditions.

Yours in unity

The Community Union team

Members of the final salary scheme should have received a communication from the Society that sets out the proposals to close the scheme and officially opens the consultation period.

When people hear the word ‘consultation’ it is not always clear what it means. A consultation about pensions is completely different to a consultation about redundancies. Government regulations state that an employer must consult with scheme members before it closes a scheme.

There is now a minimum of 60-days for those affected or their representatives to respond to the proposals. Community believes that this should be a meaningful period of consultation and should effective discussions still be ongoing at 60 days, that this should not be cut-off arbitrarily.

Community has taken advice from its own pensions adviser about the possible changes. Community is interested to hear your views on how the union should respond on your behalf. Community believes that there are some alternatives including the following:

  • Keeping final pay benefits but accepting (an increase in) member contributions – the Society has already stated in its Q&A that member contributions of 20%-25% of salary would be required but we would want to see the detail of how they came to that conclusion.
  • Allowing active members approaching retirement to keep final pay benefits for future service – we realise that this would not address the problem for all current members of the scheme. However, the injustice lies in the fact that the scheme is being closed. It may be better for some scheme members to escape than for everyone to suffer. It is also clearly the case that the closer you are to retirement the more difficult it is to make alternative plans.
  • Moving to a hybrid scheme – a hybrid scheme would share some of the features of a final pay scheme with those of a money purchase scheme. This way the risk is shared by both the scheme member and the employer. An example of a hybrid scheme is a ‘cash balance plan’. This retains a benefit based on the employee’s final earnings, except that the benefit paid on retirement is expressed as a lump sum, rather than as an annual pension. Then on retirement the member can keep a quarter of the lump sum in cash but has to use the balance to purchase a pension, where the amount of pension secured depends on annuity rates at the time of retirement. The result is that the employer retains the investment and relatively limited mortality risk up to retirement but after retirement these are passed to the member. &oltag &oltag &oltag

      These options are for your consideration and if you would like further information, then please let us know. Community Union is here to represent your views.

      Community is currently surveying members’ opinions to these options. To complete the survey please follow the link:

      Community Union NSPCC Pensions Survey April 2009

      Please forward this link to your co-workers in the NSPCC.

      We think a good way of doing this would be to set up a working group of members who can follow through this consultation process and ensure people’s concerns are represented effectively. We are contacting the agency to suggest this process and we will let you know their response. If you would be interested in joining this working group then please email nspcc@community-tu.org .

      As we have stated before, we know from experience pensions consultations are difficult processes and it is not easy to make changes to decisions. What we can assure you is that Community will ensure that the agency carries out the consultation effectively and that the agency considers all the options and hears your views.

      Some of you have sent in detailed questions about the pensions changes. Rest-assured that we will respond to these now the full detail is available. If anybody has any further questions at this stage, please let us know by emailing nspcc@community-tu.org