Another year of zero. I imagine if someone was taking bets that it may have been “even money” as to whether we would or would not receive an annual discretionary increase this year. But we know now that it was another “zero” year like so many before for those of us with pre 1997 service. Our campaign continues! Here’s a summary of what has happened in April.
23 April There was a discussion in the House of Lords. We are writing to all who spoke that day.
You can read the article here.
Elaine Stewart MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock raised a terrific question in the House on 24 April. The answer from Lucy Powell, Leader of the House, started in a most human way acknowledging that “there’s nothing worse for pension holders than seeing their pension value eroded”. However, as the statement continued she wrongly, in my opinion, placed the onus on the Trustee.
In our case, and for many, if not, all of the members of the Pre 97 Alliance, the decision is 100% the responsibility of the Company. We have received and will publicize as soon as we receive permission to do so, a statement made to an MP from the Trustee stating that this is the case. Thanks to the Deputy Speaker for her reply but please, in future, attribute the responsibility where it truly belongs. In this case, to HPE.
On 29 April, there was an HPPA event in Reading about the pension justice campaign. It was a lively discussion. You can read all about it in the Reading Chronical link.
There was also coverage in Reading Today.
On 30 April, the Government published their response to the report released March 2024 by the then Select Committee chaired by Sir Stephen Timms.
David Carson has submitted written and oral evidence that influenced this report. The calling of the general election in 2024 risked that the report would be left to gather dust. The letters from HPPA members to their MPs helped pull this report back into the focus of the new Government. Central to our campaign was our first “ask” – for the research into the Pre 97 injustice to be completed. We were heartened to hear, again via response to a question from an MP on behalf of an HPPA member, that previous Minister, Emma Reynolds, said this research was underway.
However, very quickly we began to hear from HPPA and Alliance members that there seemed to be problems with the data collection. We asked members to follow this up and write to their MPs about these concerns. More than 40 people wrote and the concern was noted. It would appear that improvements in the data collection are being considered for future surveys.
My conclusion is this is a mix of bad news and good news. There is a little more known about the Pre 97 injustice, but still not enough. However, the problem is now absolutely seen by current government.
You can read more in the report in recommendation 9.
The Government takes the concerns raised very seriously. Members of these pension schemes are now understandably concerned at seeing inflation erode the value of their retirement income. Pension scheme trustees and sponsoring employers need to think carefully about the impact inflation has on members’ benefits when they are making decisions about benefit increases.
IMO, this is absolutely essential to the resolution of the injustice.
Now we have to influence the powers that be to get more than “monitoring”. And for that, we have a plan, and we will be asking for your help in section 6 of this update and in the coming weeks.
Many thanks to all our HPPA and Alliance members for the growing flow of effective letters that have not only developed awareness and support for our campaign but have resulted in action. And there are now so many established relationships with MPs across the UK. We hope to continue to develop these relationships and leverage them. You will find more about this in May.
David and I have met again with an MSP Siobhian Brown. As a result of this meeting, we have an idea for related campaign focused on our “4th ask” – USE THE FULL RANGE OF GOVERNMENT’S POWERS TO ENSURE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF UK PRE-97 PENSIONERS. The context of procurement would be within the setting of the Scottish Parliament and Senedd Cymru, i.e. what steps does the Parliament take to ensure that companies awarded public contracts (e.g. HPE and its resellers) meet ethical standards in their treatment of Pre 97 pensioners?
However to put this into action we need help! Looking for a volunteer Scottish resident and one Welsh resident. Please contact Patricia. This could also be an ideal project for a student with an interest in politics, social justice or even change management.
In April we incurred some expense in connection with the Reading event and with the software license to support the HPPA site. If you can, please use the “donate” button on the HPPA.org.uk site.
Kind regards,
Patricia