Pension Changes

[tescobutcher]

Does anyone know what happens to the pension I have built up if I opt out now? Someone in my store was talking about getting the money they put in back(taxed obviously)
Thanks

[Duracell]

The Pension you have built up so far is protected, what your pension is worth when the scheme closes to contributions is what you will get from retirement age. (Not the projected pension amount as if you would still be contributing until 65).

As for the change in General. It is a fact that the pension is listed as a company benefit which isn't open to negotiation as part of pay negs etc.
So realistically what is it the union can do about the change, any kind of industrial action, would (in my honest opinion) invoke the legal minimum, the proposed changes are above that.
The Change is inevitable, I would expect the union I pay contributions to to grease the machine of change, not chuck a spanner in it.
The proposed changes are better than they legally have to be, I don't disagree that there is scope for improvement both in the proposals and communication, but thinking that the company will reverse their decision to stop individual contributions to defined benefit schemes is quite frankly naive to say the least.

Any kind rejection to change is futile and foolish.

[The Mrs]

The next consultative meeting is next Tuesday/Wednesday.

[optout]

duracell

where were you during vietnam, the American propaganda machine would have loved you.

[Duracell]

Vietnam?? take a pill  .

I have actually change my opinion after seeing some of the pension answers, but it all boils down to the membership having the right size testicles to make a difference.

[Twinkeltoes1]

Just had this from USDAW in reply to my unsavoury comments on twitter, hope you can see it ok

[attachment deleted by admin]

[eilidhsmum]

Today marks the start of the 90 day Consultation Period, Here is the Q&A from todays T5.

Q1. What changes are you proposing to make?

etc,etc...........

[Loki]

Why have you quoted the OP with no reply?

[valleyboy]

http://m.southwales-eveningpost.co.uk/Steelworkers-urged-accept-new-pensions-offer-Tata/story-26729893-detail/story.html

[Loki]

Pension consultation update

Tuesday 4th August, 2015

Dear colleagues,

Thank you to all of you who responded to our pension consultation.

We know how important pensions are to you and that's why we ran our consultation for 90 days, rather than the statutory period of 60 days, to allow you to have plenty of time to consider the changes and to let us have your views.

We are grateful to the large number of you who engaged in the consultation where we had over 60,000 visits to the website, 27,000 calls to the helpline and 2,900 comments from colleagues.  We also held many helpful and constructive meetings with your unions.

Throughout the whole of the consultation, we have been listening to and considering the feedback you've provided.

Your clear preference is to keep the existing defined benefit pension scheme – and not to close it.  However, if the defined benefit scheme were to close, there are a number of improvements to the proposals that you've asked for – those most asked for are shown in the table below:

1. Type of benefit   
Contributions payable by the company   

Suggested improvements to our proposals
Raise the maximum contribution above 5% a year

2. Type of benefit
Life cover payable on death   

Suggested improvements to our proposals
Increase life cover above four times your pay

3. Type of benefit
Benefit payable on ill health   

Suggested improvements to our proposals
Improve the pension on ill-health and offer permanent health insurance

4. Type of benefit
Early retirement defined benefit pension   

Suggested improvements to our proposals
Protect those close to retirement by not changing the current reduction on early retirement

5. Type of benefit
Extra contributions   

Suggested improvements to our proposals
Pay a one-off extra contribution to recognise the closure of the scheme

6. Type of benefit
Other suggested improvements
   
Suggested improvements to our proposals
Increase defined benefit pension to retirement by the Retail Price Index, not the Consumer Price Index. Don't increase the Full Pension Age for employed members, for pension built up after 1 June 2012 if life expectancy improves.

We are carefully looking at all the points that have been made and we will come back to you within the next six weeks.

We remain committed to doing the right thing by providing a pension scheme which is competitive, which rewards colleagues for the great job they do and helps everyone to save for their retirement.  At the same time we need to ensure that the scheme we offer is both affordable and sustainable for the business.

Thank you again for your contribution to our pension consultation.

Alison Horner
Chief People Officer

[David]

Pension update will be sent to all colleagues via email at 1400 today.

[craftyarchie]

Well I've got my email and to say I'm angry would be an understatement!
The gist of it is:
We said we were scrapping it in January, so we've put on a pretend consultation and guess what, we're scrapping it!
Here are some unfounded and unsubstantiated figures to scare you into believing our sham of a consultation.
By the way we're not mentioning the shortfall in the current pension, because that would by open and honest.
We'll let you increase the amount you can pay in,however we know that most staff will not be able to afford this due to our lack of pay rises and increased costs of living.
We'll bribe you with a one off payment to try and make you feel valued.
Here's how our competitors pensions compare although we've only included the information that makes us look better. ( Sainsbury's double their staffs contributions)
To conclude we'll hint at what you may get on retirement.  Bear in mind this figure assumes that you will work on sundays and bank holidays, that you will have a pay rise each year of 1.15% and that the scheme will return an annual profit of 4%, a target that no pension scheme has managed in the past few years.

I'll pause for a moment to allow USDAW to comment on todays announcement.  Of they would have to remove their mouths from Tescos arse in order to speak first though!

[Cabernetfranc]

Lewis's pay deal at Tesco sees him earn a package worth up to £8.1million a year, comprising £1.25million in annual salary, plus a potential £3.13million bonus, possible £3.4million in long-term incentive shares and £313,000 in pension payments.

Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-3091174/Tesco-paid-new-boss-Dave-Lewis-4-1million-six-months.html#ixzz3jkRPsCLg
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

[craftyarchie]

Fat cats at a trough like pigs.  Any scraps left will be thrown us.

[AlexM]

On the pension calculator it states that the Gov will be paying roughly 20% on top of what we pay & Tesco will match it. Ie I pay £80 a month, Gov pays £20 & Tesco pay £100.

Does the Government pay that for the current scheme? Just on my wife's last payslip it says £100CR next to Pension Builder in the first column & her 5% contribution is £100. The new pension calculator says wife pays £80 + Gov £20 and Tesco match it  to £100@ 5% contribution.

We're trying to figure out if she'll be saving £20 a month (or can increase her contribution to 6% and bleed more out of Tesco!).

[mexicopete]

Fat cats at a trough like pigs.  Any sc**ps left will be thrown us.

Not wrong there mate. Lying, manipulative Tw*ts at the top.

[Loki]

So...

.... Usdaw ...?

[HalloweenJack]

Well I've got my email and to say I'm angry would be an understatement!
The gist of it is:
We said we were sc**pping it in January, so we've put on a pretend consultation and guess what, we're sc**pping it!
Here are some unfounded and unsubstantiated figures to scare you into believing our sham of a consultation.
By the way we're not mentioning the shortfall in the current pension, because that would by open and honest.
We'll let you increase the amount you can pay in,however we know that most staff will not be able to afford this due to our lack of pay rises and increased costs of living.
We'll bribe you with a one off payment to try and make you feel valued.
Here's how our competitors pensions compare although we've only included the information that makes us look better. ( Sainsbury's double their staffs contributions)
To conclude we'll hint at what you may get on retirement.  Bear in mind this figure assumes that you will work on sundays and bank holidays, that you will have a pay rise each year of 1.15% and that the scheme will return an annual profit of 4%, a target that no pension scheme has managed in the past few years.

I'll pause for a moment to allow USDAW to comment on todays announcement.  Of they would have to remove their mouths from Tescos arse in order to speak first though!

reading:

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&cad=rja&uact=8&sqi=2&ved=0CDYQFjAHahUKEwj8vvS3t8LHAhWJWNsKHWMOASw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww80.landg.com%2FDocumentLibraryWeb%2FDocument%3Freference%3DSainsburys_MasterTrust_Members_Booklet.pdf&ei=uW3bVbz-A4mx7QbjnITgAg&usg=AFQjCNHBTp5dhzwKxBZY3NNtge6O3tPJ8g&sig2=dIqyTLSMdyOF-D3qM6Rn2g

Sainbury`s are very similar to the proposed for tesco except life cover is 6 times not the five for Tesco

[lucgeo]

One hour after receiving the pension announcement e mail, USDAW send their e mail about recruitment week!! Yep, they know members will be up in arms and cancelling their memberships, so again they ask reps to go on a recruitment drive!! That's if they have any reps left?? Wonder how many reps will be stepping down and not seeking re election in the upcoming elections?? Hmmm!! Am in two minds me self??

[picktocube]

Strange how you come to that conclusion,when the recruitment drive which is for all of the companies that they are involved in(not just Tesco )and  has been on their calendar all year.

[lucgeo]

Indeed it has! I find strange the fact that they feel the need to e mail within an hour of the expected announcement!

[David]

In the interest of transparency...
Work Level 3 and above will continue to earn 1.5x their contributions and will have a maximum employee contribution of 10% (rather than 7.5% for WL1 & WL2). As an example if you decided to contribute 10%, Tesco would contribute 15%.

Hardly fair nor reasonable.

If you want to read the full detail you can access the pensions website using the password seniorinfo2015 rather than info2015 and it will be there for everyone to see.

[craftyarchie]

Haloween Jack,  our competitors.
Morrisons are currently under negotiation.
Asda is hard to find details of but they've closed their DB and offer 3% matching.
Sainsburys step up matches up to 7.5%
Waitrose 3% and match up to 4.5%
M&S double contributions for those under 2 years, you put in 3% they put 6%. For longer than 2 years you put in 6% they put in 12%

As others have said the contributions differ for higher levels up to the obscene amounts for the board.

[seenitall]

Waitrose 3% and match up to 4.5%

Not the whole story on Waitrose.
First 5 years (was recently 3 years but returned back to 5 years): Waitrose 3% and match up to 4.5%.
After 5 (3) years: There is a DB scheme as well (accrual rate significantly reduced recently and benefits rebaselined--Life expectancy adjustment factor), Waitrose pays money into both schemes, but you don't get an accrual credit for the initial waiting years, just the DC part only.  No transfers in or out of DB scheme.

[Welsh-Hugh]

We're all in it together Drastic Dave says . Well that's not quite right. Where's the open honest and transparent gone? Wait there it wasn't there in first place. No doubt managers in work will try and sell it to the lessor people below them ie the workers . But then again they would ,as all senior managers won't get up to 7.5% paid in they will get 15%. The hard workers have been sold down the river .
This is actual pension brief to Tesco senior managers


In the new scheme you'd be able to choose how much to pay in.

You could pay between 6% and 10% of your salary every 4 weeks. If you changed your mind you could change how much you pay.

Tesco would pay in one and a half times more. For any contribution you made between 6% and 10% of your salary, Tesco would pay in one and a half times the amount you paid.  So if you paid in 10%, Tesco would pay in 15%

The Government would also pay part of your contributions on your behalf  - even if you're not a taxpayer.  So the actual cost to you would be less.

If you wanted to pay additional contributions towards your retirement you could do so by increasing your 4-weekly contributions above 10%. You could save as much of your salary as you like, but Tesco would only pay in one and a half times more up to 10%.