Message to Community's Corus members about the British Steel Pension Scheme


Corus are opening consultations about the future of the British Steel Pension Scheme

RE: British Steel Pension Scheme

You will shortly receive a letter from Corus opening a consultation on the future of the British Steel Pension Scheme. Corus want to close the scheme to new entrants – this means nobody else will be able to join the scheme. Instead they will be offered a stakeholder scheme, where the employee takes all the risk and cannot be certain what level of pension they will ultimately receive.

Community and its sister unions in Corus are opposed to closing the scheme to new entrants. In this climate of job threats and job losses, this is just another unwanted attack on terms & conditions.

We are opposed to this change for the following reasons:

· We believe this move is the thin end of the wedge for the British Steel Pension Scheme. There are countless examples of schemes being closed to new entrants and subsequently the scheme is closed full stop - Tata Tea/Tetley being an obvious example.

  • We do not believe all the alternatives have been examined.
  • Fundamentally, the BSPS is a strong scheme.
  • Corus have committed to maintaining their contribution level at 12% until 2011. What Corus have neglected to mention in this consultation is that they wish to cap their contributions at 12% after that. This could affect the scheme’s funding level and subsequently impact your benefits.
  • The question must be asked why Corus is taking this action at this stage – in the current climate the chances of new starters is extremely low.
  • Corus claim this will not affect your future benefits and yet they cannot give any guarantees about your future benefits.
  • Just saying ‘every other company is doing this so we are too’ is not good enough. The BSPS is unique in that most of its funding was taxpayers money. Corus took pensions holidays in the good times, now they’re running scared in the bad times.
  • Ultimately, this is about fairness. We want all Corus employees to be safe in the knowledge that they will be secure in retirement. Closing the scheme to new entrants means this will no longer be the case.

You will be invited to participate in this consultation. You must let Corus know what you think about their proposals – unacceptable, untimely and unwanted. This is not just about new entrants; ultimately this is about the long-term future of your pension. The fight for the BSPS begins now. Don’t risk losing your pension – you need to take action now.

If you have any further questions about this, please let us know - ask your branch official or call the Service Centre on 0800 389 6332 or email info@community-tu.org.