UNISON the public service union - Pay and conditions

Pensions overview

The pension debate
A proper pension from your employer is important for very many reasons, including:

People need a decent standard of living upon retirement when the cost of living is likely to be very expensive

Provision is needed for a person's partner/dependants in the event of a death or early retirement due to ill health

Pensions are a form of deferred pay

State provision on its own is not enough

Adequate occupational pension provision is vital and employers need to be made to pay their fair share.

Pensions unit
UNISON has a long-established, dedicated pensions department providing a useful source of information, research and member assistance covering all aspects of pensions.

We provide resources, information and support relating to the following:

Public sector pensions, in particular on behalf of the local government and NHS pension schemes

With so much movement from public to private sectors through privatisation initiatives we are supporting retention of decent employer-sponsored pension schemes

Member disputes: discriminations cases, ill-health issues, early retirement, part time etc

Employers closing or reducing their levels of pension entitlements, whether for current or future members.

The issues

The state pension
A decent pension is vital not only to avoid poverty but also social exclusion. Pensioners should be entitled by right to a healthy diet, material security, social participation and a sense of control.

Pensioner poverty is rife in the UK and UNISON is fighting for a number of guarantees, including:

£150 a week minimum

Employers to contribute

Restoration of the earnings link to the basic state pension

To find out what UNISON is doing about the basic state pension Link to another page on this site read this article

Partners' pensions
UNISON continues to seek changes to the law to compel public service pension schemes to provide partners' pensions at no additional cost.

Following agreement with local government employers, we are awaiting the response of government. Negotiations with employers in the NHS are continuing.

After extensive lobbying by members around the country and the personal intervention of UNISON's general secretary, Dave Prentis, with Chancellor Gordon Brown. The recent Civil Partnership Act now contains some key provisions. It includes full pensions equality in the public sector for long-term same sex partnerships and couples registering as civil partners.

Better advice
UNISON continues to push for a better, more comprehensive advice for members considering additional contributions to increase their pensions.

Private transfer
UNISON is actively campaigning for workers' terms and conditions to be maintained whenever a transfer to private employment takes place, including out-sourcing and wholesale take-over.

Pension protection is still poor and UNISON continues to fight for members to remain in good public service schemes when they are transferred in and out of public service.

Member representation
There are no trustees in the Local Government Pension Scheme and very little member involvement. About one half of the investment panels in the UK have trade union observers. UNISON wants the status of observers clarified and able to contribute to all investment-panel meetings.

Pension fund democracy
Employers still have too much power over company pension schemes. A Maxwell-style robbery is still very much a possibility. Surpluses in pension funds, supposedly reserved for members, are still accessed readily by employers.

At UNISON

Pension education
There is much discussion about pensions but actual knowledge and understanding of pensions remains limited.

We are therefore using this website to disseminate useful information for branches as well as members themselves share knowledge and discuss any problems members typically face.

We will endeavour to keep you informed of any changes affecting pension schemes, particularly in the public sector, as and when they occur.

Member problems
We have, over many years, assisted numerous members with various problems they have faced, particularly with their employers' pension schemes. We have found that problems have not diminished over time and in order to maintain an efficient and helpful resource we have delegated much of the most frequent issues to branch level, leaving such matters as policy, strategy, technical, bargaining, etc to the pensions unit.

Therefore should you as a member have any problems or disputes, please refer to the information on this website or any of the pension web links. If you need further assistance you should make contact with your local branch office.

Tell us about it
UNISON wants to hear about your experiences of pension provision - good and bad. Armed with that information we can help secure a better pension deal for all our members.

Contact your local branch to find out about your pension or to tell us about your experience.

UNISON branches are encouraged to monitor the pension schemes of their members' employers. They also help promote the advantages of an employer's scheme and monitor who joined and why.

UNISON members are encouraged to sit on the management/trustee committees that administer pension schemes and to push for increased benefits and improvements to their schemes.

UNISON also monitors ill-health retirements and finds out whether anyone is being forced to leave on incapacity grounds without any pension.