Pension boost opportunity for Post Office members

Postal September 21 2018

Members working for the Post Office will be receiving letters through the post advising them of a new opportunity to increase their retirement pensions pot, after a collective agreement was reached following negotiations between the CWU and the company.

Salary Exchange for Pension Contributions, which was supported unanimously by the Postal Executive and is a completely voluntary scheme, is set to be rolled out to around 4,000 CWU-grade employees at the start of November. This will provide approximately 90 per cent of members with benefits in respect of reduced National Insurance (NI) contributions.

Assistant secretary Andy Furey explains: “The Post Office also saves via lower employer NI contributions and we have therefore agreed with the Post Office to capture a significant proportion of the employer’s savings by recycling this money into the defined contribution (DC) pension scheme – and so the company will pay more into the pensions scheme, specifically by increasing contributions to the lower tiers.”

This positive development in respect of pensions will impact upon 50 per cent of our members as this arrangement will primarily benefit members employed from April 2008, who were in the original DC scheme – a scheme which is generally accepted as being inferior in comparison to the now closed defined benefit (DB) scheme.

“We are encouraging members to take advantage of the benefits of both Salary Exchange and increased pension contributions; however we do stress that it is purely voluntary although there is no negative aspect to this agreement,” Andy continues.

“Please look out for your letters, which contain full and detailed explanations of this opportunity, and please ask for the appropriate advice if you require further information.”