Employees at Capita offices across the country have begun a nine day strike over the company’s plans to close its defined benefit pension scheme.

Capita announced its plans to transfer members from its existing DB scheme to a defined contribution scheme in June this year. Unite the union, said that staff in the scheme will suffer a massive cut in their retirement income as a result of the proposals.

The strike follows a breakdown of talks at Acas, and commenced on Saturday 28 October, ending on Sunday 5 November. Ninety-five per cent of staff voted in favour of strike action in a ballot that had a 72 per cent turnout. However, Capita said this was a ballot done before their most recent offer, which it said was immediately rejected by Unite without consulting members.

The strike will also impact companies that have outsourced some of its work to Capita, including Royal London CIS, Prudential, Aviva and Phoenix. As a result, Unite is calling on these companies to intervene to “settle this betrayal of staff.

Commenting, Unite national officer Dominic Hook said: “Capita management only have themselves to blame for the fact that staff at Capita have been forced to take industrial action. The employer’s disgraceful plans to slash the deferred pay that staff will get in retirement has made employees angry in workplaces across the country. Unite has repeatedly tried to settle this dispute and made numerous alternative pension proposals to the company, all of which the employer has failed to consider.

“Unite suspended planned strikes in good faith in order to reach a settlement with Capita. Unfortunately the company has failed to make a reasonable offer to address the concerns of their workforce. Capita’s pension proposals will have far reaching consequences for the retirement of many Unite members. Some staff will lose a shocking 70 per cent of their retirement income.

“There is no justification for highly profitable Capita to treat its workforce in this manner. The extremely high vote in favour of strike action shows how strongly members feel about this. Capita must urgently rethink these pension proposals for the sake of their loyal staff and in order to prevent further delays to their contracts and increased reputational damage to the organisation.”

Responding, a Capita spokesperson said: “Capita is in the minority of companies still offering a DB pension scheme to a small number, some 4 per cent of our 73,000 employees, and, like many of our peers, we recognised that this arrangement is not sustainable in the long-term. We have been working with employees and their representatives to agree the transfer to an enhanced DC pension scheme, which continues to safeguard employees’ accrued benefits.

"Unite has acted alone, without consulting its members, in rejecting outright two separate enhanced offers that we put forward in good faith, therefore denying their members a voice in this matter. We have robust plans in place for the handful of clients whose services may be affected.”

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