Digital pension shortfall fight
Thousands lose out
A computer firm who were one of Ayrshire’s biggest employers could cause a change in the law after thousands were left out of pocket.
The call comes on behalf of thousands of employees who worked at the Digital Equipment plant at Ayr’s Mosshill Industrial Estate.
Around 1500 people at a time were employed at the plant - which closed in 2002 after the company was acquired by computer giant Hewlett Packard - with as many as 6,000 people passing through the doors over its 30 year history.
Now pensioners who worked at the plant are arguing that the value of their pensions has stagnated after they failed to receive regular cost of living increases, unlike HP employees in other parts of the world, thanks to a UK government exemption for pre1997 pension contributions.
The Hewlett Packard Pensioners Association - which represents 3,500 pensioners who have each lost on average in excess of £ 24,000 - held a meeting at Westminster, with Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock MP Bill Grant in attendance.
Bill Grant, MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock, said: “I wrote to Hewlett Packard on their behalf to ask if the company believes it has a moral obligation to pay more generous increases to pensioners on pre- 1997 defined pensions.
“HP accepts this is an emotive topic with a number of moral dimensions.
“It points out that in balancing its obligations to both former and current employees, it also has to consider deficits in its various UK pension schemes.
“As a follow- up, I attended a Hewlett Packard Pension Association presentation at Westminster where I heard the pensioners’ case.
“Ultimately, the HPPA would like the government to amend legislation so that companies like HP are obliged to raise pre- 1997 defined pensions, to take at least some account of inflation.
“I will be meeting pensions minister Guy Opperman in the near future to discuss what options are available to the government, as he works on a Pensions Bill delayed by the last election.”
The issue was first raised in parliament in January this year by Mr Grant’s predecessor, Corri Wilson.
She argued - along with Central Ayrshire MP Philippa Whitford, who also attended the most recent meeting – that people who had paid into the pension scheme for the longest were “getting the least benefit back from the scheme” because of the law.
At that point, Parliamentary Under- Secretary of State for Pensions Richard Harrington vowed to do more work to find out the cost of delivering the pension increase.
Julian Russell of the HP Pensioners Association said they would now be looking for a meeting with Pensions Minister Guy Opperman over the “morally unacceptable” practice.