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NSPCC closes final salary pension scheme

Fundraising | Lucy Harvey | 5 Aug 2009

The NSPCC is to close its final salary pension scheme – a decision which affects 900 staff.

The move, first proposed by trustees at the end of last year, has “disappointed” employee union Community which claims the scheme could continue.

The union is representing all affected employees – some of whom were enrolled in the scheme last year. It has said it will offer legal advice to its members when the scheme officially ends on 31 December.

A spokesman said: "Community Union understands that the recession has impacted upon the financing of charities across the country but believes that this does not excuse cutting terms and conditions for employees. 

"Community Union knows that staff are the lifeblood of voluntary sector organisations and important conditions like pensions should not be dispensed with lightly."

£20m deficit 

NSPCC finance director Ian Chivers (pictured) told Charity News Alert: “A lot of people think a pension scheme is just something you do on the side but the scale of the liabilities is huge.

“The liabilities are in the region of £150m. Clearly we have substantial assets but there is deficit in the order of £20m in closing the scheme. If we had continued with it the deficit would be bigger and the liabilities would continue to grow.

“We do understand the effect on staff and we have put in a number of actions to help staff move from final salary to stakeholder pensions.”

He added: “We are not trying to dress this up as good news for staff but we think we are taking a responsible approach to it.”

Some staff upset

In recent months Chivers visited NSPCC offices across the UK to explain the charity’s position, and said he had seen a “spectrum of responses”.

He said: “Some staff were very upset, some staff have been pragmatic about it.

“Clearly we hope staff don’t leave because of it, but with 900 individuals we can’t control the actions of every one.
“What we are hoping is when staff have had a chance to look at it, that they think it is the right place to stay.”

He added: “We have taken a lot of advice internally and externally on the legal point of view. An individual or the union may bring action whether that is justified or not, but we did do a lot of careful work to check we are within our legal rights to take this action.”

Redundancies and pay freeze 

In March 150 NSPCC staff were made redundant and a pay freeze was introduced which is still in place, but will be reviewed later in the year. The charity now has around 2,300 staff.

The latest fundraising figures show the charity is 7 per cent better off than it was this time last year.

Chivers said chief executive Andrew Flanagan, who joined in January, is still reviewing the organisation’s overall strategy and changes will be introduced before the end of the calendar year that may result in the “re-focusing or realignment of services”.

He said: “We are not arrogant enough to think that everything we do is perfect. It’s not a focus on saving costs but it’s how we can best deliver our objectives of ending cruelty to children.”

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Directory: National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)