If anyone has ever watched Working Lunch on BBC 2, then they might have seen a chap from The Pensions Advisory Service. He really knew his stuff, so I had a look at their website:
The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS)
It had some interesting info, such as:
Section 262 of the Pensions Act 2004 outlines the requirements if changes are made to an occupational pension scheme. Under these requirements, if changes are made which affect a member's or their survivors' 'subsisting rights' the member's consent must first be obtained or the trustees must ensure that:
- a written explanation has been given to the member and opportunity allowed for them to make representations;
- satisfied themselves that the actuarial value of the member's benefits will be the same, or greater, as their subsisting rights before the change;
- they have obtained a statement from the scheme actuary certifying the actuarial value of the benefits has been maintained.
(Subsisting rights, means any right to future benefits that has already been built up and any entitlement to a pension in payment.)
This basically means that if we don't agree to any changes the company wants to make to our pension, then there is nothing they can do to it that would make it worse. So just say no....!
TPAS is a very good free service, and they know their stuff, so I'm going to forward them a lot of info (that's already available on the internet) and see what they say.
Someone else has also made a very good point, which some of you may have read:
"Once agreement has been reached to change any part of the pension scheme, the Deed of Trust is removed forever"
Is this true?
The problem with the whole scenario is that there is no organisation/union/group that is putting an official counter-argument to the need for changes - it's just us.
But how many people in the company will just go with what the unions and/or company says, and vote yes?