04 June 2009
Barclays yesterday announced plans to close its final salary
pension scheme to nearly 18,000 members.
In a letter to staff, John Varley, group chief executive said he
had "reluctantly" come to believe the move was necessary because
the current pension scheme had become "untenable" after its £200m
surplus ballooned into a £2.2bn deficit in the space of a year.
Barclays has stopped short of switching existing members to a
defined contribution scheme and proposes to move them to a "hybrid"
system, known as a cash balance scheme.
Barclays closed its final salary pension scheme to new entrants
in 1997.
Supermarket WM Morrison will also tell its workers they will no
longer get a pension based on their final salary.
From July, the 10,000 employees in the group's pension scheme
will find their pension will be based on an average of what they
have earned over their careers, rather than on their final pay at
retirement.
