New Pension scheme for all will commence from October

Postal

Every Royal Mail worker, with at least one year’s service, will have equal access to the company’s Collective Plan from 7th October, when a scheme that the union and the business have worked together on for several years officially opens…

Collective pensions are a new type of scheme, and this will be the first of its kind in the UK, having required specific legislation to introduce it. Potential new RMG owners EP Group have also committed to supporting the new scheme going forward, via the legal undertakings they have provided.

CWU assistant secretary Andy Furey and Midlands divisional representative Paul Kennedy were joined by Royal Mail’s Angela Gough and Emma Weston Green – respectively, the company’s group director of pensions and head of the Collective Plan – in Birmingham last week for the first divisional training session to CWU area representatives.

Speaking after the event, Andy told CWU News: “We’ve been waiting a long time for this positive development and we welcome the establishment of this new innovative Collective Pension Plan, which will provide a quality scheme for all, right across Royal Mail Group.

“Today’s session was very well-attended, extremely informative and was the first of what will be a series of similar events in every Division of the UK. As well as thanking everyone who came along today, I particularly want to thank Paul Kennedy for the training package he’s developed and presented to our reps.”

Angela said: “This is the future of pensions in Royal Mail and the first of its kind in the UK. We’ve worked hard together with the CWU and Unite/CMA to make it possible and I’m delighted that it’s ready to launch in October.”

And Emma added: “We’re operationally ready to run this scheme from 7th October – the Trustee is ready and excited to get started. It’s one scheme for all.

CWU Deputy General Secretary Postal (DGSP) Martin Walsh said: “This news is welcomed. The new Collective Pension Plan will allow all Royal Mail members to join one scheme. This scheme will be an improvement on those who are currently in a defined contribution, and we believe based on the research will also benefit all other members.

“I want to thank everyone for working so hard to get this over line and I want to personally thank Andy Furey for his hard work on developing the scheme.”

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