S&N pensioners call for Government probe of Heineken over pensions dispute
A group representing thousands of Scottish and Newcastle pensioners has written to the Government in a bid to force Dutch owner Heineken to honour a policy of providing discretionary inflation-linked pension increases.
The S&N Pensions Group (S&NPG) has written to the chairman of the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee, asking him to investigate what it alleges is Heineken's "failure" to fulfil undertakings given to S&N pensioners before its £7.8b takeover of S&N in 2008. Heineken denies it has broken any commitments.
The group pointed to an extraordinary general meeting to approve the acquisition of S&N in which it was stated that "…there is a practice of providing discretionary pension increases each year … it is Heineken's intention to continue this practice." The commitment relates to pensions built-up in the scheme before 6 April 1997.
But in 2010, pensioners were advised that there would be no increase on pre-1997 pensions. The group claimed that Heineken failed to give a reason.
Tom Ward, former S&N corporate development director and spokesperson for the group representing S&N pensioners, said: "Before the takeover we understood that Heineken NV, the parent company, stood firmly behind their public and private commitments on pensions. Given the standing, size and reputation of Heineken, that gave us great comfort. To now make a U-turn on their very public undertaking to follow S&N's many decades of company practice in applying inflationary increases to pensions is deeply offensive.
"This is a major issue for pensioners; we have been given a raw deal and treated unfairly and dishonourably. The continuation of this decision will lead to the rapid devaluation of pensions and potential hardship for many thousands of loyal employees who worked hard to build S&N into the business that was so attractive to Heineken.
"At a time when there is understandable concern about the high-handedness of major multinationals after they have taken over important historic UK businesses, we believe that it is important that the Select Committee investigates the behaviour of Heineken."
A Heineken spokesman said: "We have certainly not broken any commitments to pensioners - the discretionary decision we took last year was based on the outlook for our fund at that time and the position will be reviewed again later this year.
"As a responsible employer, Heineken has put in place a strong recovery plan for the pension fund, including significant cash injections peaking at £61m per annum in 2014.
"Our duty lies with all pension stakeholders and for the long term. Of course, we understand the strength of feeling amongst those who did not receive pension increases this year. We are happy to continue a dialogue with them and, of course, to justify our actions to any relevant body who wishes to review the matter."
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By Neil Gerrard
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