Bentley gets backlash over plans to hit DB members with NI costs
Bentley Motors has been criticised over plans to pass £1.4m of national insurance (NI) costs onto the 1,300 members of its defined benefit (DB) pension scheme.
The move by the luxury car maker which is the subsidiary company of Volkswagen (VW), follows government changes to state pensions coming into place this month. These changes will see the Bentley's NI contributions increase by around 2% per year.
The £1.4m figure includes proposals to pass £800,000 per annum of rising employer NI contribution costs to members, according to Unite the Union.
This is in addition to the 1.4% personal NI rise for each member which equates to a further £600,000 per annum.
The charges are expected to come into effect from 1 May with Unite warning they will lead to staff being forced to pay an extra 2% of their salary into their DB scheme.
It follows a similar move by Royal Bank of Scotland to pass £18m of national insurance (NI) costs onto its 27,000 DB scheme members.
A spokesman for Bentley said in a statement: "Following changes to pension legislation introduced by the government earlier this year, Bentley is one of many employers that has used the statutory power to revise the company's DB pension policy, which has meant additional cost to members.
"This was a decision made after careful consideration by the business, and full consultation with all active pension members" he added.
Unite called the consultation "insufficient" because it claims neither the union nor workforce were properly involved.
A spokesperson for the union said it "had only received a series of letters" from the employer about its plans between October 2015 and March 2016 but "there has been no mention of a formal consultation at any point".
It is now urging the company to hold a genuine consultation to be held with staff and the union to explore other ways of off-setting the charges.
Unite national officer for the automotive sector Tony Murphy said: "Bentley Motors has remained a success story despite its parent company's problems. There is no doubt that Bentley can afford to pay its own NI costs without expecting hardworking staff to foot the bill.
"What we're seeing is a cynical attempt by VW to take advantage of these pension changes to help offset the costs of the disastrous emissions scandal. Bentley workers didn't cause VW's crisis, so it's absurd to expect them to pay for it now.
"Unite calls on the management of Bentley and VW to drop these unfair charges and work with us to find alternative ways to off-set these pension charges."
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