RBS rebuked over plans to hit members with £18m NI costs
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has received backlash over plans to pass £18m of national insurance (NI) costs onto its 27,000 defined benefit (DB) scheme members.
The bank announced its intentions today alongside a public consultation that will run until June 30.
The move follows government changes to state pensions, which will see the bank's employer NI contributions increase by £18m per year.
The proposals say staff would be required to an extra 2% of their salary into their DB pension a move which Unite predicted would particularly impact RBS staff earning around £20,000 per annum.
For these individuals the impact from employee and employer NI changes would cost them an extra £600 each to remain in the scheme.
The charges are currently planned to be introduced in two stages of a 1% increase in October 2016 and another 1% increase in 2017.
These employer costs are in addition to the employees' own NI costs of an extra £20 a month, set to rise in April 2016.
Unite national officer for finance Rob MacGregor said the move by RBS would effectively wipe out an pay rises staff had received, adding: "This announcement leaves RBS workers asking why they alone must carry the financial burden of an employer's rising NI costs when they are already working more for less, with tax bills that stretch family budgets to the limit.
"This shameless move will shatter the fragile trust RBS have worked to restore since the bank's previous regime ended in calamity. Once again the bank has found a new way to hand down the costs of historic mismanagement to the workforce.
"RBS employees, who have struggled to bring the bank back from the brink deserve better. It is not too late for the bank to think again and withdraw these unfair charges."
MacGregor said Unite had already been discussing the matter with RBS prior to the formal consultation launched today.
An RBS spokesperson said a final decision would be reached in July, adding: "Reforms made to defined benefit pensions mean that the costs of our own scheme have risen.
"As a result RBS is proposing to increase the cost of being a member of the scheme. The bank will be consulting on this proposal with affected staff and employee representatives."
RBS recently announced in its trading statement that it would pay ten years' worth of pension contributions into its DB scheme by March.
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