Pensions 'betrayal' in nuclear decommissioning industry
3 min read
North Ayrshire and Arran's SNP MP Patricia Gibson writes ahead of her Westminster Hall debate on 'Pensions in the nuclear decommissioning industry'.
The sense of betrayal felt by people working in the nuclear decommissioning industry should be no surprise to anyone who has followed events since the nuclear estate was privatised in the 1980s by the Thatcher Government. Guarantees were made, requiring the new private sector employers to continue to provide pension benefits for those employed at the time of privatisation “at least as good as those they were receiving in the public sector”. These guarantees have now been abandoned.
This has been made starkly clear by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and employers who have consulted on reforms to two final salary schemes; the Combined Nuclear Pension Plan and Magnox Electric Group of the Electricity Supply Pension Scheme, which sought the views of members on reforms including moving to a Career Averaged Revalued Earnings arrangement and a cap on pensionable pay.
The UK Government decided that, because the NDA is classified as public sector, these schemes should be reformed under the Public Service Pensions Act 2013. However, clearly the pensions are not public sector.
The threat to decommissioning workers’ pensions is unacceptable in light of radical reform of these pensions in the mid-2000s, being closed to new entrants who now have inferior Defined Contributions pensions. In addition to this, members of the pension scheme are supposed to be covered by statutory protection.
Public Sector Reform takes no account of the fact that decommissioning sites are now in the private sector. Nor that, unlike other public sector workers, redundancy is an inherent part of their employment, since cleaning nuclear sites is time-limited. And although workers are classed as public sector workers, their terms and conditions are not devolved to the Scottish Parliament as others are. Indeed, Scottish nuclear workers still have their severance and early retirement terms dictated by the UK Government.
Clearly the goalposts alter when it is deemed financially beneficial for the Government or the industry, while the monetary interests of the workers are a secondary consideration.
This comes hard on the heels of the punitive Exit Cap Payments which have a hugely detrimental impact on the pensions and redundancy payment of those over 55s made redundant after years of service.
Whilst talks have led to a new NDA proposal, the trade unions’ consensus is that more must be done to put pension provisions on par with the public sector, including new starters in a Defined Contribution scheme, so that their pension is protected.
So clearly, despite significant pension guarantees in the 1980s; despite major pension reform in the mid-2000s, despite the Exit Payments Cap, workers in the nuclear decommissioning industry are in the firing line.
The fact is that this is part of a broader narrative from a UK Government that seeks to reduce pensions across the board. These moves have to be resisted. Who knows what group of workers will be in the firing line next?
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