Thistle takes initiative with early launch of stakeholder pension

Thistle Hotels is to offer stakeholder-style pensions to its staff, but has warned that the scheme would be a waste of money for the lowest-paid.

Mark Geary, director of human resources at Thistle, said employees who earn below £9,000 per year become eligible for means-tested income supplements which could be reduced if they started making payments into what would be a small stakeholder pension.

But for staff earning more than £9,000 Thistle believes its scheme could prove "so attractive from a recruitment point of view" that it has decided not to wait for the Government formally to introduce stakeholder pensions in April 2001.

Thistle has teamed up with Friends Provident to design a group personal pension plan that will be launched in May to all staff with at least six months' service. Company contribution levels will be based on length of service.

Stakeholder pensions are supposed to be designed for simplicity. The employee owns the funds, decides how they are invested, can alter monthly payments and even stop them for a while if necessary. The pensions are also fully transferable, a major benefit in a trade with such high staff turnover levels.

by Angela Frewin

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 3 - 9 February 2000