Bectu members speak up on BBC pensions

Bectu is urging its members to join in a consultation over proposed changes to BBC pensions.
The consultative exercise, required by law if a pension scheme plans reductions in benefits, is being conducted by BBC management, and runs until June 30.
Officials hope that high participation in the exercise by members will reinforce the union message that there is no need to raise both staff payments into the scheme and the BBC retirement age.
An advice sheet has been issued to members, suggesting how they can support the union's position when they fill in consultation questionnaires.
BBC unions are also opposed to a plan for new staff to be offered a so-called "career average" pension scheme, rather than the final-salary scheme that current staff belong to.
Meetings have been held around the UK, where union representatives have briefed members on the true state of the BBC pension fund, which unlike many other schemes, has more than enough money to meet all its obligations.
Members have been told that the true motive for increases in staff contributions, and reductions in benefits, is the BBC's ambition to cut its long-term payments into the scheme, and there is no immediate pension problem to be fixed at the Corporation.
During the 1990s both staff and the BBC took a "pensions holiday" during which contributions into the scheme were reduced in order to use up a surplus in the fund's assets.
In 2005 the scheme's actuaries calculated that the surplus had been run down to zero, and advised the BBC that contributions would have to increase to slightly less than the level at which they were made before the pensions holiday.
The BBC intends to raise its contribution to the required level from April 2007, but aims to reduce its level of funding throught the lower costs of the new career average scheme, and the increase in retirement age for existing staff which is planned to take place in 2016.
(GB)